Crisis of Brain and Self

Abstract. Neuroscientific evidence requires a monistic understanding of brain/mind. Truly appropriating what this means confronts us with the vulnerability of the human condition. Ca-muss absurd and Tillich's despair are extreme expressions of a similar confrontation. This crisis demands a type...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Don Keyes, C. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 1996
In: Zygon
Further subjects:B Ethics
B Absurdity
B Despair
B Courage
B meaninglessness
B Religious Faith
B Aesthetics
B Self
B mind / brain
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Summary:Abstract. Neuroscientific evidence requires a monistic understanding of brain/mind. Truly appropriating what this means confronts us with the vulnerability of the human condition. Ca-muss absurd and Tillich's despair are extreme expressions of a similar confrontation. This crisis demands a type of courage that is consistent with scientific truth and does not undermine the spiritual dimension of life. That dimension is not a separate substance but the process by which brain/mind meaningfully wrestles with its crisis through aesthetic symbols, religious faith, and ethical affirmation. The validity of these activities does not depend upon human autonomy but instead upon the fact that they exist. Furthermore, they constitute the self, which Dennett calls a “center of narrative gravity.”
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1996.tb00951.x