A History of the Mind

Nicholas Humphrey wrote A History of the Mind in 1992. He is a psychologist who studies how minds work in animals and people. This book tries to solve a big puzzle: What is consciousness? Why do we feel things inside, like pain or joy? Humphrey says consciousness is not magic. It grew over millions of years through evolution. It started as simple body feelings in tiny creatures and became the rich inner world we know today. He calls it a "partial history" of sensory feelings—how they began and why they help us live.Humphrey starts with the mind-body problem. This is an old question from thinkers like René Descartes, who said, "I think, therefore I am." But Humphrey changes it to "I feel, therefore I am." He says thinking is important, but feeling is what makes us conscious. Feelings come from sensations. Sensations are like alarms in your body. They tell you what happens to you, such as a hot stove burning your hand. You feel the hurt inside. Perceptions are different. They tell you what happens out there, like seeing the stove. You know it's hot, but without the burn, it feels flat—no inner zing.To explain this, Humphrey uses real stories. Take blindsight. Some people lose part of their sight from brain damage. They say they see nothing in that spot. But tests show they can guess shapes or colors there. It's perception without sensation—no feeling of seeing. Another example is phantom limbs. Amputees feel pain or itch in a missing arm. The sensation lives on in the brain, even without the body part. These show sensations are brain tricks, not just body signals.Humphrey traces feelings back in time. Imagine the first tiny animals, like amoebas in ancient oceans. They had no brain or nerves. But when something touched their skin, they wriggled toward food or away from harm. This was a basic "yes" or "no" feeling—a spark of like or dislike. Evolution built on it. Next came simple nerves. These are wires that carry touch signals from the skin to a basic brain. The animal feels the touch and moves fast.Then came a big change: short-circuiting. In smarter animals, nerves don't always go all the way to muscles. Instead, the brain cuts in. It sends fake signals back along the same nerve, like an echo. This creates a loop. The animal feels the touch as if it's still happening, even after it ends. Humphrey says this "privatizes" the feeling. It's now inside the head, not tied to the outside world. Loops get longer in bigger brains. They bounce signals around, making feelings last. This is the "thick moment" of now—the vivid present you live in.Why did this evolve? Humphrey says feelings help survival, especially in groups. Early humans lived in troops. To stay safe, they needed to read others' moods. A frown means danger; a smile means friend. But to understand friends, you first understand yourself. Feelings let you build a "theory of mind." You imagine what others feel, because you know your own. This social skill made consciousness useful. Without it, animals might act smart but feel nothing—like zombies in stories.Humphrey talks about famous ideas. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw feelings as a bridge to nature's soul. Philosopher Colin McGinn thinks consciousness is too hard for science—like colors to a blind person. Daniel Dennett says it's all brain tricks, no real mystery. Humphrey agrees with Dennett but adds evolution. He pushes an "identity theory." Feelings are the brain loops. No gap between mind and body. The "hard problem"—why brain sparks feel like anything—is fake. It's just how our brains confuse us. We can't picture the loops from outside, like fish don't see water.He uses fun examples. Picture a cartoon cat chasing a mouse. The cat feels hungry pangs inside, but sees the mouse out there. Or think of Milan Kundera's books, where characters ponder inner aches. Humphrey even imagines aliens or machines. Could a robot feel? If it has loops like ours, yes.