A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind Quotes

“The brain, having never taken a course in philosophy, is the ultimate pragmatist; what is true is what works. Like any successful oddsmaker, the brain is a predictor of probabilities, not a stickler for the perfect answer.”
― Robert A. Burton, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves

“The history of science is the back-and-forth movement of trial-and-error advances and retreats, punctuated by moments of brilliance and marred by periods of excess.”
― Robert A. Burton, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves

“the accuracy of your research will always be limited by the quality of your tools.”
― Robert A. Burton, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves

“Hiring the mind as a consultant for understanding the mind feels like the metaphoric equivalent of asking a known con man for his self-appraisal and letter of reference.”
― Robert A. Burton, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves

“Multiple fMRI studies have shown that a localized area of the brain—the ventral medial prefrontal cortex—will show increased activity when we have thoughts and mental images about ourselves.”
― Robert A. Burton, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves

“Group biological changes in lower life-forms are more likely to have a direct correlation with final behavior.”
― Robert A. Burton, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves