Consciousness and the Brain A Scientific and Philosophical Inquiry

The relationship of consciousness to brain, which Schopenhauer grandly referred to as the "world knot," remains an unsolved problem within both philosophy and science. The central focus in what follows is the relevance of science---from psychoanalysis to

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Contributors E. M DEWAN Lexington, Massachusetts SIR JOHN C. ECCLES University of Buffalo GORDON G. GLOBUS UniversIty of Calzfornla, Irvine KEITH GUNDERSON UniversIty of Minnesota PETER H. KNAPP Boston UniversIty GROVER MAXWELL UniversIty of Minnesota KARL H. PRIBRAM Stanford UniversIty C. WADE SAVAGE UnIVersIty of Minnesota IRWIN SAVODNIK UniversIty of PIttsburgh MICHAEL SCRIVEN UniversIty of CalIfornia, Berkeley R. W. SPERRY

Calzfornla Instztute of Technology WALTER B. WEIMER Pennsylvania State University WILLIAM C. WIMSAIT UniversIty of ChIcago

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE BRAIN A Scientific and Philosophical Inquiry Edited by

Gordon G. Globus Unzverslty of Callfornza, Irvzne

Grover Maxwell Unzverslty of Mznnesota

and

Irwin Savodnik Unzverslty of PIttsburgh

Plenum Press· New York and London

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Consciousness and the brain. Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Mind and body. 2. Consciousness. 3. Brain. I. Globus, Gordon G., 1934II. Maxwell, Grover. III. Savodnik, Irwin. IV. Title. (DNLM: 1. Consciousness. 2. Neurophysiology. 3. Psychophysiology. 4. Philosophy. WLl02 C755) 7544478 BF161.C69 128'.2 ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-2198-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-2196-5 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-2196-5

First Printing - June 1976 Second Printing - November 1977

© 1976 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1976 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, micromming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

Preface The relationship of consciousness to brain, which Schopenhauer grandly referred to as the "world knot," remains an unsolved problem within both philosophy and science. The central focus in what follows is the relevance of science---from psychoanalysis to neurophysiology and quantum physics-to the mind-brain puzzle. Many would argue that we have advanced little since the age of the Greek philosophers, and that the extraordinary accumulation of neuroscientific knowledge in this century has helped not at all. Increasingly, philosophers and scientists have tended to go their separate ways in considering the issues, since they tend to differ in the questions that they ask, the data and ideas which are provided for consideration, their methods for answering these questions, and criteria for judging the acceptability of an answer. But it is our conviction that philosophers and scientists can usefully interchange, at least to the extent that they provide co~straints upon each other's preferred strategies, and it may prove possible for more substantive progress to be made. Philosophers have said some rather naive things by ignoring the extraordinary advances in the neurosciences in the twentieth century. The skull is not filled with green cheese! On the other hand, the arrogance of