The Self and Its BrainThe problem of the relation between our bodies and our minds, and espe cially of the link between brain structures and processes on the one hand and mental dispositions and events on the other is an exceedingly difficult one. Without pretending to be able to foresee future developments, both authors of this book think it improbable that the problem will ever be solved, in the sense that we shall really understand this relation. We think that no more can be expected than to make a little progress here or there. We have written this book in the hope that we have been able to do so. We are conscious of the fact that what we have done is very conjectur al and very modest. We are aware of our fallibility; yet we believe in the intrinsic value of every human effort to deepen our understanding of our selves and of the world we live in. We believe in humanism: in human rationality, in human science, and in other human achievements, however fallible they are. We are unimpressed by the recurrent intellectual fashions that belittle science and the other great human achievements. An additional motive for writing this book is that we both feel that the debunking of man has gone far enough - even too far. It is said that we had to learn from Copernicus and Darwin that man's place in the universe is not so exalted or so exclusive as man once thought. That may well be. |
Contents
The Connectivities of Cortical Areas | |
Connectivities of the Limbic System Hassler 1967 Nauta 1971 | |
Chapter E2 Conscious Perception 7 Résumé | |
Introduction | |
Cutaneous Perception Somaesthesis | |
Visual Perception | |
Auditory Perception | |
Olfactory Perception | |
Indeterminism the Interaction of Levels of Emergence | |
Chapter P2 The Worlds 1 2 and 3 | |
The Reality of World 3 | |
Unembodied World 3 Objects | |
Grasping a World 3 Object | |
The Reality of Unembodied World 3 Objects | |
World 3 and the MindBody Problem | |
Chapter P3 Materialism Criticized 16 Four Materialist or Physicalist Positions | |
Materialism and the Autonomous World 3 | |
Radical Materialism or Radical Behaviourism | |
Panpsychism | |
Epiphenomenalism | |
A Revised Form of J B S Haldanes Refutation of Materialism | |
The SoCalled Identity Theory | |
Does the Identity Theory Escape the Fate of Epiphenomenalism? | |
A Critical Note on Parallelism The Identity Theory as a Form of Parallelism | |
Additional Remarks on some Recent Materialist Theories | |
The New Promissory Materialism | |
Results and Conclusion | |
Chapter P4 Some Remarks on the Self 28 Introduction | |
Selves | |
The Ghost in the Machine | |
Learning to be a Self | |
Individuation | |
The Self and Its Brain | |
The Biological Approach to Human Knowledge and Intelligence | |
Consciousness and Perception | |
The Biological Function of Conscious and of Intelligent Activity | |
The Integrative Unity of Consciousness | |
The Continuity of the Self | |
The Natural Selection of Theories | |
Criticism of the Theory of Unconditioned and Conditioned Reflexes | |
Kinds of Memory | |
The Self Anchored in World 3 | |
Chapter P5 Historical Comments on the MindBody Problem 43 The History of Our Picture of the Universe | |
A Problem to be Solved by What Follows | |
The Prehistoric Discovery of the Self and of World 2 | |
The MindBody Problem in Greek Philosophy | |
Conjectural versus Ultimate Explanation | |
A Shift in the MindBody Problem | |
The Occasionalists and Spinoza | |
From Parallelism to Identity | |
The End of Ultimate Explanation | |
The Association of Ideas as an Ultimate Explanation | |
Neutral Monism | |
From Kant to Feigl 55 Linguistic Parallelism | |
A Final Look at Materialism | |
Chapter P6 Summary | |
Bibliography to Part I | |
Part II | |
Résumé | |
Chapter E1 The Cerebral Cortex 1 Résumé | |
Anatomical Introduction | |
The Columnar Arrangement and the Modular Concept of the Cerebral Cortex | |
Modular Interaction | |
Emotional Colouring of Conscious Perceptions | |
Epilogue | |
Chapter E3 Voluntary Movement 15 Résumé | |
Introduction | |
The Motor Unit | |
The Motor Cortex | |
Voluntary Movement | |
The Cerebellar Controls of Voluntary Movement | |
The OpenLoop Circuits via the Basal Ganglia | |
Synthesis of the Various Neuronal Mechanisms Concerned in the Control of Voluntary Movement | |
General Discussion | |
Chapter E4 The Language Centres of the Human Brain | |
Aphasia | |
Experiments on Exposed Brains | |
Intracarotid Injections of Sodium Amytal 29 The Dichotic Listening Test | |
The SelfConscious Mind and Speech | |
Anatomical Substrates of Speech Mechanisms | |
The Acquisition of Language | |
Chapter E5 Global Lesions of the Human Cerebrum 33 Résumé | |
Introduction 35 Investigations on the Human Brain After Commissural Section Commissurotomy | |
Discussion on Commissurotomy | |
Investigations on the Human Cerebrum After Gross Lesions 38 Hemispherectomy | |
Summary of Linguistic Abilities Disclosed by Global Lesions | |
Chapter E6 Circumscribed Cerebral Lesions 40 Résumé | |
Temporal Lobe Lesions | |
Parietal Lobe Lesions | |
Occipital Lobe Lesions 45 Frontal Lobe Lesions | |
Limbic System Lesions | |
The Dominant and Minor Hemispheres | |
Chapter E7 The Selfconscious Mind and the Brain 48 Résumé | |
Introduction | |
Selfconscious Mind and the Brain | |
Hypothesis of Interaction of Selfconscious Mind and the Liaison Brain | |
The Hypothesis of Cortical Modules and the Selfconscious Mind | |
Sleep Dreams and Various Forms of Unconsciousness | |
Plasticity of Open Modules | |
Summary | |
The Cerebral Processes Concerned in Storage and Retrieval 56 Résumé | |
Introduction | |
Structural and Functional Changes Possibly Related | |
Hypotheses of Neuronal Happenings in Memory Storage | |
Retrograde Amnesia | |
Dialogue I | |
Dialogue II | |
Dialogue III | |
Dialogue IV | |
Dialogue VI | |
Dialogue VII | |
Dialogue VIII | |
Dialogue IX | |
Dialogue X | |
Dialogue XI | |
Dialogue XII | |
Other editions - View all
The Self and Its Brain: An Argument for Interactionism John C. Eccles,Karl Popper Limited preview - 2014 |
The Self and Its Brain: An Argument for Interactionism John C. Eccles,Karl Popper Limited preview - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
action activity afferent animals association atoms auditory axons behaviour body cerebellar cerebellum cerebral cortex cerebral hemisphere chapter E2 commissural commissurotomy complex conjecture connectivities conscious experience corpus callosum course criticism dendrites Descartes developed discharges discussion dominant hemisphere Eccles evolution example excitatory explanation Figure functions give hippocampus hypothesis idea identity theory important impulses inhibitory input interaction interpretation laminae language learning left hemisphere left visual lesions liaison limbic system linguistic materialist mechanical memory mental mindbody minor hemisphere motoneurone motor cortex muscle neocortex nerve fibres nervous system neural neurones operation organs panpsychism parallelism pathways patients patterns perception performance physical physicalist prefrontal lobe primary sensory areas problem processes projections pyramidal cells pyramidal tract readiness potential responses result retina right hemisphere self selfconscious mind sense shown somaesthetic soul speech areas Sperry stimulation structure suggest synapses temporal lobe things visual cortex visual field World 3 objects