Nicholas Humphrey

Nicholas Keynes Humphrey (born 1943) is an English neuropsychologist and writer who has investigated the evolution of consciousness and social intelligence. His early research on visual perception after cortical damage in monkeys, done with Lawrence Weiskrantz, led to the discovery of blindsight. After fieldwork with mountain gorillas he was one of the first to formulate the social intelligence hypothesis, and with Daniel Dennett he has worked on the science and philosophy of phenomenal consciousness, building toward a materialist theory that treats conscious experience as a life-affirming illusion. His books include A History of the Mind (1992), Seeing Red (2006), Soul Dust (2011) and Sentience (2023). He has held posts at Oxford, Cambridge, the New School for Social Research and the London School of Economics, and has presented television series on the mind.