Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia; Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.
Brain takes a Selfie
Post 50.August 28, 2018 continued . . .
Modular Mind vs Unitary Self The Self is what the Brain thinks it is
Although I find his theory of the modular brain to be a reasonable explanation for the analytical purposes of Psych-ology, I think it's unsatisfactory for the holistic goals of those who deal with minds instead of brains. Physical Science works by reducing the complexities of reality to simpler components that can be understood mechanically. For example, neurons are “correlates of consciousness” but not themselves conscious9. Metaphysical Philosophy attempts to grasp the world-wide-web of causation as a complete integrated system, which is more than the sum of its parts — its modules. Just as “quantum mechanics” is anything but mechanical, the metaphysical Mind is not just a clever arrangement of cogs and sprockets. The conscious mind has a holistic function all its own. It serves as the CEO of the Self, having one foot in the corporate Body, and the other in the abstract world of ideal Information10.
Like all functions, the Self is not a physical object, but an organized system11 of goal-oriented actions. Yet, it’s also not a spiritual ghost sometimes haunting its own body, and other times wandering about in the world interfering in other people's business. When the CEO/Self wants to communicate with other CEOs, it does so by directing the body to send official (con-scious) or un-official (sub-conscious) messages through the usual channels of spoken or typed words, or physical gestures. Direct mind-to-mind communication would be nice, but Evo-lution hasn't provided us with an app for that. Psychics are just good at reading body language, among other non-verbal cues.
The brain is indeed modular and mechanical. But the Mind is unitary and metaphysical; just as people have long intuited, before Science began to dissect the brain into its component parts in search of the soul. You won't find the Self/Soul by dissecting the system into bits & pieces. Just as a clock's function is not to turn mechanical gears & pointers, but to indicate the metaphysical concept of Time, only when all parts are in place and working properly will the Self emerge as a super-function. Descartes was right in that brain & mind, body & soul are distinctive entities. Yet he led many minds down the wrong path, when he implied that the metaphysical Soul could exist apart from its physical substrate. The Self/Soul/Mind emerges from matter-in-action. Apart from the brain, the Mind is only as real as the number Pi apart from a circular object.
End of Post 50
9. Neural Basis of Self : The Self concept has many functions : sense of embodiment, relation to outside world, personal vs non-personal memories, center for self-control, character for moral decisions. Neurons are necessary for most of these, but not sufficient to create a unified being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_basis_of_self
11. System : Not a bunch of things, but a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method. It’s the immaterial structure of information flow.
Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite, Evolution and the Modular Mind By Robert Kurzban
Apart from my criticism of his pragmatic, reductive, materialistic model of the Mind, I think the book is an excellent accessible intro-duction to how professional Psychologists deal with the mysterious labyrinth of often-irrational and counter-productive human behavior. But for the rest of us, a more idealistic, holistic, & meta-physical approach may be justifiable in some cases. The BothAnd attitude doesn’t automatically exclude Imagination from its world-view. But, that broad-minded perspective must guard against the pitfalls of blind Faith, which ignores the whispers of clear-eyed Reason when it blurts out the obvious : “the Emperor has no clothes”.
NEXT
BACK
Forum
