“Contradictions” is a general interest book that exposes the incompatibility between popular religious beliefs and the scientific view of human nature. It begins with a survey of the evolution of religions and their continuing, often irrational, influences in modern society. Then, based on his long experience in neuroscience, the author takes issue with Decartes about the duality of body and soul. He presents case studies of patients with brain diseases and from these deduces that the soul, far from being separate and supernatural, is no more or less than our way of experiencing our brains ... and which correspondingly disintegrates when they do. Convincing clinical findings and powerful arguments about the universality of truth make this book a bold contribution to the debate about belief and religion in the modern world.
Author(s): José M. Musacchio (auth.)
Series: Springer-Praxis Books - Popular Science
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 195
Tags: Popular Science in Psychology; Neuropsychology; Neurosciences; Philosophy of Mind
Front Matter....Pages i-xix
The universality of religious beliefs....Pages 1-12
The contradictions and consequences of religious beliefs....Pages 13-26
The evolution of human ancestors....Pages 27-35
The most amazing window on human nature....Pages 37-57
Why qualia and consciousness seem mysterious....Pages 59-81
The word-grounding problem and the incompleteness of language....Pages 83-98
The roots of knowledge....Pages 99-120
Abstract and imaginary objects....Pages 121-142
Nature is logical, because logic is natural....Pages 143-162
Faith and the validation of beliefs....Pages 163-175
Contradictory beliefs are a poor mechanism of adaptation....Pages 177-188
Back Matter....Pages 189-195
