Glenn Carruthers can remember his first conscious thought.
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He was out the front of his home watching his father drive the family car into the driveway.
"I could see the wheels turning on the car and that was my first recognition of cause and effect," he said.
"The wheels were spinning and that was pushing the car forward.
"I was probably about four years of age.
"That realisation pushed me toward the idea of asking why things happen the way they do."
That pursuit of questioning saw Glenn study physics and math at school before studying philosophy at Adelaide University.
Before taking up his current role as lecturer in psychology at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie Glenn completed his PhD. He also studied for 18 months at the School of Mind and Brain in Berlin.
He is a cognitive scientist and theoretical psychologist with interests in consciousness, psychopathology and moral change.
His current role includes a combination of research and teaching.
Work on his first book - The Feeling of Embodiment: a case study in explaining consciousness - started in 2006. It will be launched on July 11.
He says the publication of his book is "exciting".
"There are different theories of consciousness but the integration with the fact-based literature is often quite superficial," he said.
I enjoy finding out the very specific relationship between how we represent the world and what the brain is doing.
- Glenn Carruthers
"I do think that what has been exciting for me about this project has been that I have found a way to link together some ideas that were initially thought to be contradictory.
"As humans we are still searching.
"I enjoy finding out the very specific relationship between how we represent the world and what the brain is doing.
"I think we are always going to be searching, more generally, but also with some of these more specific ideas in mind."
He says the point of philosophy is simple: it makes us smarter.
"There is clear evidence that we, as humans, are making progress," he says.
"What this kind of work does is asks questions about what we are and how we fit into the world.
"This is a measure of our progress through the 21st century."
Glenn Carruthers will launch his book, The Feeling of Embodiment on Thursday July 11, 6pm at CSU Port Macquarie Campus. It is available in hard copy and as an e-book.
To RSVP email him on gcarruthers@csu.edu.au
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