Beyond a World Divided: Human Values in the Brain-Mind Science of Roger Sperry

by Erika Erdmann, Roger Sperry (Introduction), David Stover

Overview

Thinkers as diverse as C.P. Snow, J. Bronowski, and Carl Sagan have described the rift between the "two cultures" of science and the humanities as the greatest barrier to solving the many problems threatening today's world. During the last two decades of his life, Nobel laureate Roger W. Sperry -- best known for his pioneering split-brain studies that highlighted the differing aptitudes of the two hemispheres of the human brain -- turned his energies to this dilemma. Sperry's ideas about consciousness challenged the behaviorist orthodoxy that prevailed in psychology in the 1950s and '60s, and provided a way of understanding the relationship between brain and mind that not only more accurately reflected reality, but also promised a reconciliation between the conflicting claims of hard-edged objective fact and the realm of human emotion and subjective experience. Beyond A World Divided chronicles the neuroscientist's groundbreaking research, his efforts to refine and win acceptance for his ideas, and his struggle to advance his work despite the onslaught of the degenerative nerve disease that eventually killed him. The book concludes by surveying the debate in the psychological and philosophical communities about the impact of Sperry's ideas -- a debate which still continues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780877735908
Publisher:	Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/1991
Edition description:	1st ed
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.66(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
	Preface	xv
	Acknowledgments	xix
Part 1	The Dilemma
1.	The Rift	3
2.	A World Divided	9
	The Worldview of Science	11
	The Worldview of Religion	19
	Reflections	28
Part 2	The Quest
	Prelude: The More Encompassing Vision	31
3.	The Lure of the Mind-Brain Problem	34
	Concern with the Brain	35
4.	Concern with Consciousness	41
	The Larger Perspective	41
	Value Implications	43
	The Concept of Emergence	45
	Thoughts and Ideas	48
	The Concept of Downward Causation	49
	Emergent Causation	50
	Action and Reaction	50
	Further Explanation of a Hypothesis	59
5.	Concern with Values	64
	The Supreme Good	64
	The Hierarchy of Values	70
	Facts and Values	72
	Free Will	77
	Values from Science	82
	Reflections	83
6.	Reception of a Paradigm	85
	Why Do Distinguished Scientists Do It?	86
	"Whatever Is, Is Right"	91
7.	In Search of Reference Points	98
	Facts and Values	98
	Focus on the Mind-Brain Problem	105
	Focus on Values	110
	Reflections	113
Part 3	The Hope
8.	Toward Left-Hemisphere Acceptance	117
	On the Part-Whole Relationship	117
	Dewan and the Virtual Governor	125
	Wimsatt and Levels of Organization	129
	Natsoulas and Concern with Criticism	133
	Ripley and Concern with Language	137
	Rottschaefer and Values from Science	144
	Slaatte and the Creativity of Consciousness	144
	Transformation of a Discipline	146
9.	Toward Right-Hemisphere Acceptance	152
	Merging Emotion and Reason	152
	Toward a More Profound Understanding of Evolution	165
	Widening the Focus on Religion	169
10.	Beyond a World Divided	173
	Reflections	179
	Epilogue	181
Appendix	Roger Sperry's Key Papers	183
	Epigraph Sources	185
	Notes	187
	Index	205