The History of Experience

By Wolfgang Leidhold,

Book cover of The History of Experience: A Study in Experiential Turns and Cultural Dynamics from the Paleolithic to the Present Day

Book description

In a wide arc from the Paleolithic to the present day, this book explores the changing structure of human experience and its impact on the dynamics of cultures, civilizations, and political ideas.

The main thesis is a paradigm shift: the structure of human experience is not a universal constant but…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The History of Experience as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In his book, Wolfgang Leidhold examines the entire journey of humanity and discovers something truly amazing: even though the human brain has not changed in structure during the 300,000 years of the existence of Homo sapiens, a series of mental powers have been evoked through our conscious participation. He shows us how humans became involved in building human mentality, going through eight such transitions, including the evocation of self-reflexive consciousness, inner transcendence, and the reproductive imagination.

The great gift of this book is the conviction it awakens that the development of human consciousness is not over and that those of…

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