António R. Damásio

Author profile

born

February 25, 1944 in Lisbon, Portugal

gender

male

website

http://college.usc.edu/faculty/faculty1008328.html

genre

Science, Nonfiction, Philosophy

influences

Spinoza, Descartes, Norman Geschwind

About this author

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Damásio studied medicine at the University of Lisbon Medical School in Portugal, where he also did his medical residency rotation and completed his doctorate. Later, he moved to the United States as a research fellow at the Aphasia Research Center in Boston. His work there on behavioral neurology was done under the supervision of Norman Geschwind.

As a researcher, Dr. Damásio's main interest is the neurobiology of the mind, especially neural systems which subserve memory, language, emotion, and decision-making. His research has helped to elucidate the neural basis for the emotions and has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. Damásio has formulated the somatic markers hypothesis.[1]

As a clinician, h...more Damásio studied medicine at the University of Lisbon Medical School in Portugal, where he also did his medical residency rotation and completed his doctorate. Later, he moved to the United States as a research fellow at the Aphasia Research Center in Boston. His work there on behavioral neurology was done under the supervision of Norman Geschwind.

As a researcher, Dr. Damásio's main interest is the neurobiology of the mind, especially neural systems which subserve memory, language, emotion, and decision-making. His research has helped to elucidate the neural basis for the emotions and has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. Damásio has formulated the somatic markers hypothesis.[1]

As a clinician, he and his collaborators study and treat the disorders of behavior and cognition, and movement disorders.

Damásio's books deal with the relationship between emotions and feelings, and what are their bases in the brain. His 1994 book, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain, was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and is translated in over 30 languages. His second book, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, was named as one of the ten best books of 2001 by New York Times Book Review, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and has thirty foreign editions. Damásio's most recent book, Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain, was published in 2003. In it, Damásio explores philosophy and its relations to neurobiology, suggesting that it might provide guidelines for human ethics.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, and the European Academy of Arts and Sciences. Damásio has received many awards including the Prince of Asturias Award in Science and Technology, Kappers Neuroscience Medal, the Beaumont Medal from the American Medical Association and the Reenpaa Prize in Neuroscience. He is also in the editorial board of many important journals in the field.

His current work involves the social emotions, decision neuroscience and creativity.

Prof. Damásio is married to Dr. Hanna Damásio, his colleague and co-author of several works.

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Books by António R. Damásio

Average rating: 3.90 · 2,116 ratings · 172 reviews · 13 distinct works

	Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain by António R. Damásio, Antonio Damasio 3.92 avg rating — 1,278 ratings — published 1994 — 27 editions	My rating:
	The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness by António R. Damásio, Antonio Damasio 3.94 avg rating — 437 ratings — published 1999 — 12 editions	My rating:
	Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain by António R. Damásio, Antonio Damasio 3.82 avg rating — 352 ratings — published 2003 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain 3.80 avg rating — 158 ratings — published 2010 — 15 editions	My rating:
	The Conscious Brain: Facts and Consequences by António R. Damásio, Antonio Damasio 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2010	My rating:
	Neurobiology Of Decision Making by António R. Damásio (Editor), A. R. Damasio 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1995	My rating:
	L'autre Moi Même 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:
	Unity Of Knowledge: The Convergence Of Natural And Human Science 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2001 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Ich Fühle, Also Bin Ich. Die Entschlüsselung Des Bewusstseins 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2000 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Lesion Analysis in Neuropsychology by Hanna Damasio, António R. Damásio 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1989	My rating:

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Quotes by António R. Damásio

“Leaving out appraisal also would render the biological description of the phenomena of emotion vulnerable to the caricature that emotions without an appraisal phase are meaningless events. It would be more difficult to see how beautiful and amazingly intelligent emotions can be, and how powerfully they can solve problems for us.”
― António R. Damásio, Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain

tags: neuropsychology

4 people liked it

“...I sense that stepping into the light is also a powerful metaphor for consciousness, for the birth of the knowing mind, for the simple and yet momentous coming of the sense of self into the world of the mental.”
― António R. Damásio, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness

3 people liked it

“The distinction between diseases of "brain" and "mind," between "neurological" problems and "psychological" or "psychiatric" ones, is an unfortunate cultural inheritance that permeates society and medicine. It reflects a basic ignorance of the relation between brain and mind. Diseases of the brain are seen as tragedies visited on people who cannot be blamed for their condition, while diseases of the mind, especially those that affect conduct and emotion, are seen as social inconveniences for which sufferers have much to answer. Individuals are to be blamed for their character flaws, defective emotional modulation, and so on; lack of willpower is supposed to be the primary problem.”
― António R. Damásio, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain

tags: brain

1 person liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Brain Science Pod...: BSP 74: Olaf Sporns and Networks of the Brain	3	14	May 31, 2011 04:50pm
The History Book ...: SCIENCE	41	21	Apr 21, 2012 09:02pm

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