How the SELF Controls Its BRAIN by John C. Eccles

by John C. Eccles

Sir John Carew Eccles, falecido em Maio de 1997, dedicou a sua vida ao estudo do cérebro e à defesa de uma filosofia dualista. Enquanto a maioria dos neurocientistas se prendem a um materialismo radical, Eccles dedicava-se a fundamentar cientificamente os ensinamentos do senso comum, segundo os quais o espírito, consciente de si próprio, exerce, como atestam os movimentos voluntários, uma ação efetiva sobre o cérebro.Em relação aos materialistas, a carga é violenta. As recentes teorias neurobiológicas da consciência são acusadas de dogmáticas e reducionistas. A identidade do mental e do neural, afirma Eccles, é um programa e não um resultado.Esta é a importância crítica do seu dualismo. Por outro lado, possuirá um valor heurístico? A obra científica de John Eccles tem por objeto a excitação dos neurónios motores pelas fibras nervosas e revela-nos a originalidade de recorrer à física quântica, com o fim confesso de suportar a tese de um controlo da atividade cerebral pela via mental sem infringir as leis da conservação da energia.Hipótese audaciosa que alimenta úteis observações do neocórtex. A esta incontestável fecundidade científica vem juntar-se o sentimento de ter triunfado sobre o materialismo e de ter reforçado fortemente a nossa fé numa alma humana de origem divina.Pelo seu trabalho foi-lhe atribuído, em 1963, o Prémio Nobel da Medicina.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Sir John Carew Eccles, AC FRS FRACP FRSNZ FAAS (27 January 1903 – 2 May 1997) was an Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse.

Reviews

[Matt Rito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great critique on the short-comings of modern day materialism. He covers his own spiritually based theory on how physical matter in the brain is connected with ephemeral entities based on quantum indeterminateness. I've read from other sources that his findings are flawed, but it's still a great journey to follow one of the most distinguished neuroscientists of the 20th century (noble prize winner for his work on the synapse) on what he pronounces as the pinnacle of his life and sanctity.

[Leonardo]

Eccles mejora el dualismo de Descartes proponiendo un mundo 3 de la "cultura en todas sus manifestaciones".

La mente Pág.62

[Joseph Schrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my perspective, John Eccles’ book, “How the Self Controls Its Brain, is an extremely important book. “Scientific” materialists desperately struggle to figure out how a hunk of matter (the human brain) can generate consciousness. Eccles doesn’t try any foolishness of that sort. He acknowledges that consciousness has its source in a non-material, mental Self (spirit, if you will). Eccles’ task is to figure out how that immaterial Self can act upon (control) brain functions, and also do that with no violation of energy conservation in the physical universe.

Eccles goes into much technical detail to describe how the Self marshals quantum probabilities so as to influence the firing or inhibition of neurons. Since these activities take place at microscopic levels of dendrites in the brain, simultaneously influencing many quantum probabilities that lead up to the firing of neurons allows the Self the capacity of applying free will in determining which neurons will fire and when they’ll fire. Eccles does a masterful job in his book of showing how the immaterial Self can act upon a physical entity, the brain, all in harmony with the laws of physics. Eccles shows quite clearly that we can lay to rest the physicalist superstition that a physical brain generates mentality (something quite explicitly NON-physical).

This is one of the best books I’ve read in years, and it would not seem inappropriate to have it as required reading for students who pursue neuroscience as their field of study.