Brain & Belief: An Exploration of the Human Soul (original) (raw)
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Gray A, 2010. Whatever happened to the soul? Some theological implications of neuroscience
What sets human beings apart from animals? How does ‘‘mind’’ fit with soul? Different historical and contemporary views of the mind/soul are considered. A clinical case is used to argue that a strong dualistic position is not compatible with neuro-scientific evidence nor with the expectation of life after death found in the Abrahamic faiths. Reductive physicalism is a widely held view, but risks devaluing human life. Midgely’s ‘‘many maps’’ model is suggested to fit better with a faith commitment. Non-reductive physicalism states that mind/soul is an emergent property of the complexity of the brain. Suggesting that there is no separable ‘‘soul’’ raises ethical questions, and Singer’s philosophy is given as one consequent reading of the moral standing of human beings. Holistic (weak) dualism and non-reductive physicalism are suggested as possible models of the nature of persons that fits both the scientific data and the teaching of the Abrahamic faiths. It is important for mental health professionals to be clear about their own and the service users’ underlying assumptions about human nature to optimise communication and prevent misdiagnosis.
Whatever happened to the soul? Some theological implications of neuroscience
2009
What sets human beings apart from animals? How does ‘‘mind’ ’ fit with soul? Different historical and contemporary views of the mind/soul are considered. A clinical case is used to argue that a strong dualistic position is not compatible with neuro-scientific evidence nor with the expectation of life after death found in the Abrahamic faiths. Reductive physicalism is a widely held view, but risks devaluing human life. Midgely’s ‘‘many maps’ ’ model is suggested to fit better with a faith commitment. Non-reductive physicalism states that mind/soul is an emergent property of the complexity of the brain. Suggesting that there is no separable ‘‘soul’ ’ raises ethical questions, and Singer’s philosophy is given as one consequent reading of the moral standing of human beings. Holistic (weak) dualism and non-reductive physicalism are suggested as possible models of the nature of persons that fits both the scientific data and the teaching of the Abrahamic faiths. It is important for mental ...
The metaphysical mind in its physical environment: Religious implications of neuroscience
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2002
that the phenomenon of religion and religious experience are more than mere brain functions. The place of religion and the continued importance of religion and religious experience are confirmed. The metaphysical mind in its physical environment 1012 HTS 58(3) 2002 cluster of disciplines dealing with mental functioning: motor control, perception, recognition, language, memory and reasoning. 2 One branch of cognitive science deals with computer modelling of mental processes (Murphy 1998:14). Other important fields of study include behavioural neuroscience which tries to understand the neurobiological substrates of behaviour while cognitive psychology deals, among other things, with human learning and memory. Arbib (1999:81) distinguishes brain talk, mind talk and spirit talk. Brain talk speaks of lesion data, anatomy, neurophysiology and neurochemistry. Mind talk speaks of intention, action, perception, consciousness, and responsibility. Together they are regarded as neuroscience embedded within cognitive science. Spirit talk is construed as mind talk or God talk, or as something that regards our identity as being rooted in our relation with God. Although these approaches can be distinguished, they cannot be separated. Mind-brain sciences must take the whole person in its environment and different contexts into account to avoid reductionism. This seems to be an unattainable task. Such is the nature of complex systems, and the human person embodies ultimate biological complexity. 3 However, neuroscientific models for religious experience abound and challenge theologians to respond. HTS 58(3) 2002
Neuroscience and Religion: Surveying the Field
Macmillan, 2016
Scientific and religious communities have long been at odds over scientific attempts to explain religious experience. Since the beginning of the modern era, a number of scientists interested in religion and spirituality have sought a rigorous understanding of how these types of experiences manifest themselves in the brain and in human behavior. According to this view, our deepest beliefs and most elevating experiences can be understood in scientific terms-in particular, in terms of neuroscience studying "brain anatomy, brain function, and brain chemistry" (Tiger and McGuire 2010, 113). Yet others doubt that science has a legitimate role in exploring the nature of religion or spirituality. From their perspective, scientists should not attempt to explain the ineffable at all, and they regard such efforts as a challenge to the values and experiences that they consider most personal and sacred. Aldous Huxley, one of the most prophetic science fiction authors of his generation, wrote in 1958, "That men and women can, by physical and chemical means, transcend themselves in a genuinely spiritual way… seems rather shocking. But, after all, the drug or the physical exercise is not the cause of the spiritual experience; it is only its occasion." As a seasoned explorer of the boundary between chemistry and spirituality, Huxley believed that the "chemical means" of spiritual experience do not invalidate the psychological value of the state itself. In that case, efforts to better understand those means is especially important for the scientific study of those experiences. It should be possible to undertake a scientific approach to religious and spiritual experience without reducing those experiences strictly to chemical reactions. And even if such reductionism were possible, other disciplines would likely still provide a valuable grammar for describing and understanding various aspects of religion and spirituality. At the same time, any social, cultural, or personal conception of the divine or of a higher power 277 COPYRIGHT 2017 Macmillan Reference USA, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning WCN 02-200-210
This bundle of essays presents conversations between Anglo-Saxon philosophers with Christian commitments, a few theologians, and a neuropsychologist on the nature of the human person. Taking their starting point in the widespread conviction that a human being consists of body and soul, the editors have given defenders of monist and dualist positions equal space. The intended academic service is to sample, contribute to, and advance the debate about the existence of the soul. The first purpose expresses the editors' hope to reach nonspecialists, the last two demonstrate the ambition to challenge specialists.
THE NEUROSCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA: OR WHY GOD DOESN'T USE BIOSTATISTICS
With the rapidly expanding field of neuroscience research exploring religious and spiritual phenomena, there have been many perspectives as to the validity, importance, relevance, and need for such research. In this essay we review the studies that have contributed to our current understanding of the neuropsychology of religious phenomena. We focus on methodological issues to determine which areas have been weaknesses and strengths in the current studies. This area of research also poses important theological and epistemological questions that require careful consideration if both the religious and scientific elements are to be appropriately respected. The best way to evaluate this field is to determine the methodological issues that currently affect the field and explore how best to address such issues so that future investigations can be as robust as possible and can become more mainstream in both the religious and the scientific arenas.
Neurological Approaches to Religion: An Assessment of Four New Publications
Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2008
Religion may be studied from several different angles, and is no longer private territory of theology or religious studies. It has become a copious topic for human and social sciences in the twentieth century; now is the turn of biological and cognitive sciences, applying different methodologies and their own approaches.