A mind for tomorrow : facts, values, and the future / David Stover and Erika Erdmann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stover, David.

Contributor:

Erdmann, Erika.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sperry, Roger, 1913-.

Sperry, Roger.

Consciousness.

Split brain.

Religion and science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (223 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Stover and Erdmann deal with the crises confronting today's world and argue that solutions will come not from new technology nor in retreating to an idealized agrarian past, but by overhauling the beliefs that structure society. They link the dilemmas facing civilization to a fundamental rift running through society-one between religion and the humanities, rooted in subjective experience, and science, which emphasizes objective knowledge. They suggest a promising way of closing this rift found in the work of Nobel Laureate and neuroscientist Roger W. Sperry. They examine Sperry's lifework, including his famous split- brain research and show how it led him to propose a theory of consciousness that challenged science's dismissal of subjective experience as irrelevant. By seeing consciousness as an emergent, causal property of brain function, Sperry reinstated subjective experience into the scientific worldview, laid the foundation for the cognitive revolution that has since swept through psychology, and created a means by which science can help create ethical systems better able to deal with today's challenges. Stover and Erdmann conclude by looking at ways in which others have built upon Sperry's ideas, and they hold out the hope that, with the creation of belief systems more compatible with science, a way out of humanity's current troubles may indeed be found. The result is an excursion through a world of exciting ideas, and a book sure to absorb anyone interested in the fate of our species-and how that fate might be influenced for the better. Students, researchers, scholars, and concerned citizens particularly interested in cognitive psychology, science and society, and futures studies will find the book intriguing.

Contents:

Cover

A Mind for Tomorrow

Contents

Preface

Introduction: At the Crossroads

I ONE WORLD, TWO CULTURES

1 Steaming Toward the Apocalypse

ICEBERGS NEAR AND FAR

THE ENEMY WITHIN

Global Warming

Mass Extinctions and Loss of Biodiversity

Resource Depletion

Environmental Disasters

Human Conflict

Economic Inequality

Overpopulation

FACTS, VALUES, AND THE FUTURE

NOTES

2 The Great Divide

FACTS, THEORIES, AND VALUES

WHEN THE TWO CULTURES WERE ONE

THE CHASM OPENS

THE WORLDVIEW OF SCIENCE

THE WORLDVIEW OF RELIGION

II BRAIN, MIND, AND BELIEFS TO LIVE BY

3 Brain and Mind

THE PUZZLE OF MIND AND BRAIN

BEFORE THE SPLIT BRAIN

TWO HALVES OF THE MIND

4 The Emergent Ghost: Mysteries of Consciousness

THE EMERGENT GHOST

FROM MATTER TO MIND

5 In Search of a Science of Values

EVALUATION OF CONSEQUENCES

THE GENERATION OF VALUES

CAN VALUES BE DERIVED FROM SCIENCE?

THE ISSUE OF FREE WILL

TOWARD A GLOBAL ETHIC

GUIDELINES FOR MORAL DECISION MAKING

III A MIND FOR TOMORROW

6 Stimulus and Response: Reaction to a New Worldview

TOWARD A NEW DEFINITION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

QUESTIONS OF TERMINOLOGY

THE HIDDEN CODE OF THE HUMAN MIND

SURVIVAL OF THE SOUL

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GRAND DESIGN

7 Beyond Sperry

ETHICS FROM EVOLUTION

LIGHTS OF PERVERTED SCIENCE

KNOWLEDGE OR CERTAINTY

TOWARD A SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE

AVOIDING THE ICEBERGS

PRESCRIPTIONS FOR ACTION

Appendix: A Last Tribute to Roger W. Sperry

ABSTRACT

PART I: MY ATTRACTION TO SPERRY'S WORK AND THOUGHT

PART II: SPERRY'S SUCCESSIVE ADVANCES INTO NEW AND UNEXPLORED TERRITORY

PART III: THE REORIENTATION OF HUMANITY TOWARD QUALITY SURVIVAL IN A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

A NEW DEFINITION OF "THE HIGHEST GOOD"

REFERENCES.

Bibliographic Essay

Index

About the Authors.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9798400686146

9780313003752

0313003750

OCLC:

614571879