A new era for mind studies: Training investigators in both scientific and contemplative methods of inquiry (original) (raw)
Neuroscience: Breaking Down Scientific Barriers to the Study of Brain and Mind
During the latter part of the 20th century, the study of the brain moved from a peripheral position within both the biological and psychological sciences to become an interdisciphmq field called neuroscience that now occupies a central position within each discipline. This realignment occurred because the biological study of the brain became incorporated into a common framework with cell and molecular biology on the one side and with psychology on the other. Within this new Mework, the scope of neuroscienceranges from genes to cognition, from moleculesto mind.
Mindful Practices: On the Neurosciences in the Twentieth Century
Science in Context, 2001
The neurosciences have been full of promises throughout the last century -from cybernetics to artificial minds, from holistic and integrative medicine to psychoneuro-immunology, from psychosurgery to psychoactive drugs -and they enjoy an astoundingly benevolent public interest. Just after the ending of "The Decade of the Brain" some managers of research in the neurosciences had already arranged to mark the beginning of the next millennium with a conference proclaiming the next hundred years the "Century of the Brain." Whether a justifiable prediction or wishful thinking, the neurosciences have gained momentum. How does this optimistic omnipresence of the neurosciences relate to the actual research in this area? What will be the consequences of this concentration of research efforts? Will the flood of new data, concepts, and theories revolutionize psychology or clinical medicine? Will the experimentally supported assumption that there is no such thing as free will ultimately change our worldview and our epistemology? How will or could the results affect our daily lives?
Why Consciousness? Teaching and Learning at the Leading Edge of Mind Science
Interest in the study of consciousness is growing rapidly among the general population but it has yet to make inroads into mainstream higher education because of the long-standing taboo that has denied the subject legitimacy as a serious area of academic inquiry. In 2014, however, the University of Washington Bothell campus formally launched a transdisciplinary and integral Minor in Consciousness, the first of its kind at a public research institution in North America. A four-year study explored the intellectual and personal effects of studying consciousness from this perspective for undergraduate students who enrolled in the first course in the Minor's sequence during Autumn Quarter 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015. Results indicated that students' beliefs about consciousness and reality changed significantly over a ten-week period, becoming markedly less materialistic and more open to information that they had previously eschewed. By the end of each year's course students reported feeling increased optimism, hope, and a desire to learn more, and a corresponding decrease in feelings of depression, anxiety, and nihilism. Introducing the study of consciousness within the context of scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts proved particularly efficacious and may be a useful strategy for those who are interested in teaching or learning about consciousness in less than supportive academic environments.
Today we are generally convinced that mind and body are two substances that are specifically different, autonomous, and that the mind is separate from the body, according to the Cartesian dualist view expressed by the Oxford English Dictionary in defining the term “mind.”1 But this point of view has been challenged over the last twenty years by the dizzying advances of new discoveries in neuroscience, which have led to the emergence of the position according to which “our minds are in solid flesh.” 2 This growing rejection of Cartesian dualism has led many to fall into the temptation to adopt the materialist monism of contemporary mechanist reductionism, which holds that thoughts are somatic by-products of the material body. According to this point of view, there is only matter, bodies, and no immaterial or intellectual realities, or spirit. It is, therefore, necessary today to seek a third way that explains the substantial unity of the mind-body compound and harmonizes the immaterial and intellectual character of the mind and the somatic character of the brain, because only in this way are the basic concepts from which neuroscience starts sufficiently explained, and neuroscience freed from initial inconsistencies. This third way is traveled by the Neo-Aristotelianism of the third millennium, which, as in the Greek myth, navigates between “the Scylla of materialism [mechanist reductionism] and the Charybdis of dualism,” as Gyula Klima puts it. This research, therefore, explores this third way with the aim of finding a consistent and correct explanation of the substantial unity of the mind-body compound, which, as my research will aim to prove, is the only thesis currently being debated that has the power to rid neuroscience of the danger of falling into inconsistency at its initial starting points.
Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship
Springer, 2012
The conscious mind defines human existence. Many consider the brain as a computer, and they attempt to explain consciousness as emerging at a critical, but unspecified, threshold level of complex computation among neurons. The brain-as-computer model, however, fails to account for phenomenal experience and portrays consciousness as an impotent, after-the-fact epiphenomenon lacking causal power. And the brain-as-computer concept precludes even the remotest possibility of spirituality. As described throughout the history of humankind, seemingly spiritual mental phenomena, including transcendent states, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and past-life memories have recently been well documented and treated scientifically. In addition, the brain-as-computer approach has been challenged by advocates of quantum brain biology, who are possibly able to explain, scientifically, nonlocal, seemingly spiritual mental states. Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship argues against the purely physical analysis of consciousness and for a balanced psychobiological approach. This thought-provoking volume bridges philosophy of mind with science of mind to empirically examine transcendent phenomena, such as mystic states, near-death experiences and past-life memories, that have confounded scientists for decades. Representing disciplines ranging from philosophy and history to neuroimaging and physics, and boasting a panel of expert scientists and physicians, including Andrew Newberg, Peter Fenwick, Stuart Hameroff, Mario Beauregard, Deepak Chopra, and Chris Clarke the book rigorously follows several lines of inquiry into mind-brain controversies, challenging readers to form their own conclusions—or reconsider previous ones. It is essential reading for researchers and clinicians across many disciplines, including cognitive psychology, personality and social psychology, the neurosciences, neuropsychiatry, palliative care, philosophy, and quantum physics. “This book … brings together some precious observations about the fundamental mystery of the nature of consciousness … It raises many questions that serve to invite each of us to be more aware of the uncertainty of our preconceptions about consciousness … This book on the frontiers of mind-body relationships is a scholarly embodiment of creative and open-minded science.” C. Robert Cloninger, MD Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry, Genetics, and Psychology Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis MO “Although dogmatic materialism is the monarch of contemporary Western philosophy and science, contributors to this splendid book remind me of the brash lad in the classic fable who shouted, "But the emperor has no clothes!" Some readers will agree with this observation while others will find it an outrageous heresy. But as they wend their way through each articulately stated and meticulously argued chapter, they will never succumb to boredom. It is the type of book that will haunt its readers long after the last chapter is read.” Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Saybrook University Co-editor, Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential or Human Delusion? ---- “This is really a thorough and up-to-date study of so-called anomalous spiritual phenomena. Instead of reducing these phenomena into exceptions to the general rule, the authors do not hesitate to widen the frame of interpretation. As is argued against a naïve epistemological stance, their open-minded inquiry is really a challenge and the authors managed to give us a fruitful perspective on their scholarly and multidisciplinary well documented efforts. I recommend this book to all psychiatrists, as well as professionals in theology and psychology of religion.” Peter J. Verhagen, M.D. Psychiatrist Chair of the World Psychiatric Association Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry ---- “It has become almost of a mantra in recent years to repeat that consciousness and mind are caused by brain processes and that it is only a matter of time before the neurosciences reveal all there is to know about them. As this important book shows, the fact that we now know a lot more about brain correlates of mental processes has not changed a number of awkward problems for a purely materialistic account of the mind, including how to solve the hard problem of consciousness and explain ordinary processes such as memory or less ordinary processes such as apparent psi phenomena. The contributors to this volume cover the essential areas in this discussion (philosophy, history, contemporary neuroscience, physics, and various anomalous experiences) and provide a cogent and scientifically based discussion that evidences that mind-brain relationships are far from definitely “explained” or obvious as a number of materialist authors have opined recently.” Etzel Cardeña, Ph.D. Thorsen Professor, Lund University, Sweden Co-editor of Altering Consciousness: A Multidisciplinary Perspective and Varieties of Anomalous Experience.
Mind, Brain, and Education: The Birth of a New Science
LEARNing Landscapes, 2011
In this paper, we examine the history of the emerging discipline of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) and explore the benefits as well as the difficulties involved in integrating neuroscience into educational policy and practice. We examine the power of neuroscience to impact practice and document the rise of neuromyths. History is on the side of the new discipline of MBE, but there is still much important work to be done to make neuroscientific findings accessible, comprehensible, and relevant to educators.