Annaka Harris (née Gorton, born 1976) is an American author. Her work touches on

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

and

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

. She is the author of the ''New York Times'' bestseller ''Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind'' (2019) and the children's book ''I Wonder'' (2013).

Biography

Harris was the co-founder of the non-profit scientific education group

Project Reason Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...

in 2007. She edited the 2011 long-form essay and book ''Lying'' by her husband

Sam Harris Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...

. She is the author of the 2013 children's book ''I Wonder'', which is about uncertainty and the nature of reality. She wrote the 2019 ''New York Times'' bestselling science book ''Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind''. Key subjects of ''Conscious'' include

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

panpsychism In the philosophy of mind, panpsychism () is the view that the mind or a mindlike aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality. It is also described as a theory that "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists thro ...

and the

hard problem of consciousness The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining why and how humans have qualia or phenomenal experiences. This is in contrast to the "easy problems" of explaining the physical systems that give us and other animals the ability to d ...

. Harris has been married to atheist and philosopher

since 2004. The couple have two daughters.

References

External links

* * American science writers American editors Living people 1976 births {{US-writer-stub