Brain, consciousness, and God : a Lonerganian integration / Daniel A. Helminiak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Helminiak, Daniel A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lonergan, Bernard J. F--Criticism and interpretation.

Lonergan, Bernard J. F.

Cognitive neuroscience.

Neuropsychology.

Spirituality--Physiological aspects.

Spirituality.

Brain--Miscellanea.

Brain.

Psychology, Religious.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (436 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : SUNY Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Brain, Consciousness, and God is a constructive critique of neuroscientific research on human consciousness and religious experience. An adequate epistemology—a theory of knowledge—is needed to address this topic, but today there exists no consensus on what human knowing means, especially regarding nonmaterial realities. Daniel A. Helminiak turns to twentieth-century theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan's breakthrough analysis of human consciousness and its implications for epistemology and philosophy of science. Lucidly summarizing Lonergan's key ideas, Helminiak applies them to questions about science, psychology, and religion. Along with Lonergan, eminent theorists in consciousness studies and neuroscience get deserved, detailed attention. Helminiak demonstrates the reality of the immaterial mind and, addressing the Cartesian "mind-body problem," explains how body and mind could make up one being, a person. Human consciousness is presented not only as awareness of objects, but also as self-presence, the self-conscious experience of human subjectivity, a spiritual reality. Lonergan's analyses allow us to say exactly what "spiritual" means, and it need have nothing to do with God.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; Chapter 1: Introduction; 1.1. Mystical, Religious-or Transcendent-Experiences; 1.2. Consciousness of Consciousness, Not Experience of God; 1.3. An Interdisciplinary Study; 1.4. Reliance on a Coherent and Consistent Epistemology: Lonergan; 1.5. Broader Issues of Interdisciplinary Studies; 1.6. Attention to Major Thinkers in Neuroscience and Consciousness Studies; 1.7. Attention to Intelligence, Not Merely to Logic; 1.8. An Interrelated and Unfolding Presentation; 1.9. The Centrality of Consciousness; Chapter 2: Epistemology A Portentous Prolegomenon

2.1. Lonergan's Cognitive Theory and Epistemology2.1.1. Evidence on the Mind; 2.1.2. Argument for a Genuine Science of Consciousness: Penrose; 2.1.3. Argument for a Genuine Science of Consciousness: Chalmers; 2.1.4. Argument Against a Genuine Science of Consciousness: Dennett; 2.1.5. The Makings of a Science of Consciousness; 2.1.6. Lonergan's Theory of Human Knowing; 2.2. The Empirical Level of Knowing: Experience; 2.2.1. Experience and the Initial Givens or Data; 2.2.2. Knowledge Equated with Experience: Commonsense Realism: Wilber; 2.2.3. Another Example of Commonsense Realism: Searle

2.2.4. Yet Another Example of Commonsense Realism: Chalmers2.2.5. Two Kinds of Knowing: Sensate and Intellectual; 2.2.6. A Brief History of Western Epistemology; 2.2.7. Kant's Solution and its Problem; 2.2.8. Idealism: Halfway From Materialism to Critical Realism; 2.2.9. Lonergan's Solution to Kant's Problem; 2.2.10. Summary About Experience; 2.3. The Intellectual Level of Knowing: Understanding; 2.3.1. The Occurrence and Effect of Insight; 2.3.2. The Meaning of Meaning; 2.3.3. The Unitive Nature of Insight; 2.3.4. The Intelligible Nature of Being

2.3.5. Tentative Explanation Versus Secure Matters of Fact2.3.6. The Flaw in the Conceivability Argument in Consciousness Studies; 2.3.7. Summary About Understanding; 2.4. The Rational Level of Knowing: Judgment of Fact; 2.4.1. The Absoluteness of a Judgment of Fact; 2.4.2. The Subjective and Objective Dimensions of Knowledge of Being; 2.4.3. The Need for Reflexive Consistency in a Theory of Knowledge; 2.5. The Scientific Affinity and Status of This Epistemology; 2.6. The Accuracy of Human Knowing and the Transcendental Precepts; 2.6.1. The Precarious Nature of All Human Knowing

2.6.2. The Inherent Subjective Requirements of Human Knowing2.6.3. The Criteria of Genuine or Authentic Humanity; 2.7. Transcendental Method; 2.7.1. The Inherent Workings of the Human Knowing Process; 2.7.2. The Invulnerability of This Epistemology; 2.8. Different Kinds of Realities, Including the Spiritual; 2.8.1. Equally Real Material and Spiritual Entities; 2.8.2. The Meaningful-Spiritual-Dimension of Material Things; 2.8.3. Ontological Pluralism: Different Kinds of Being; 2.9. The Challenge of Lonergan's Breakthrough

Chapter 3: Neuroscience The Biological Bases of Transcendent Experiences

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438457161

1438457162