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160 of 211 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read it first, then judge, September 5, 2007
This review is from: The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul (Hardcover)
A rash of best selling books that attempt to use science to prove that materialism, such as Richard Dawkins' new book, have appeared on the market in the past few years. The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul was written by a well qualified PhD level neuroscientist at the University of Montreal who attempts by use of laboratory experimental research to evaluate the claims of the nonmaterialist account of the living world. The coauthor is a journalist, insuring that the book is readable and assessable to the general public. The team was very successful in this work, to say the least. This book is a welcome response, based on scientific research, to the claims of materialists, the theory that life and the universe contains only matter and motion and nothing more. The idea commonly espoused by materialists that no soul, no mind, and no free will exists is effectively challenged by the peer reviewed empirical research reviewed in this book. The authors document that the nonmaterialists approach to the human mind has a long and fruitful tradition and much evidence behind it even today. The authors conclude that this worldview accounts for the evidence much better than the relatively new, and currently largely stagnate, materialist worldview. The materialist tradition not only attempts to explain everything by appealing to the motion of matter only, but has now moved far beyond this, discouraging researchers from even considering the possibility that matter and the four forces explains everything, and thereby limiting research by their straight jacket which stifles science. Science must research every area that may be fruitful, as well as some areas that may not at first appear fruitful. A major conclusion of the materialists argument is that humans have no free will but, if one could understand the position and movement of the brain molecules, one could always predict the behavior of the person. Cornell professor William Provine has articulated this position very well, as has many of his students. As Oxford University Professor Richard Dawkins explains, free will is just an illusion created by the electrical charges in the neurons in our brains, nothing more. These and other highly respected scientists even question the wisdom of punishing criminals because, if there is no mind and no free will, then criminals are victims of their mechanical material brain. Does the evidence support this view? Read this book and judge for yourself. No matter which view you hold you need to at least be aware of the other side. It was my conclusion that most readers will agree that materialist blinders interfere with the freedom to follow the evidence no matter where it leads.
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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Neuroscience and the Soul., September 30, 2009
_The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul_ (2007) by researchers Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary provides a fascinating glimpse into the murky realm where science and mysticism meet by taking a deep look into current research in neuroscience. The authors offer an important understanding of the brain processes behind religious, mystical, and spiritual experiences in light of current research. In particular, the brain imaging done on Carmelite nuns at the University of Montreal provides for a fascinating study. The authors take account of much of this research arguing the case against a reductionist materialism and maintaining that the mind is non-material. The authors examine studies both in neuroscience and parapsychology which they believe offer evidence for their case. Such evidence cannot easily be dismissed by the materialist. The authors maintain that such studies do not prove the existence of God necessarily but do show that a mystical state of consciousness exists. Further, they argue against some of the interpretations of such studies and some of the theories to explain them.
The authors consider such issues as:
A Spiritual Neuroscience - arguing the case against the held assumption that evolution is a mindless series of events with no meaning, and instead maintaining that will, mind, self, and soul exist independently. The authors further maintain that man has a fundamental spiritual essence. The authors show the problems for evolutionary psychology as science arguing that the theory cannot be falsified. The authors consider the animal nature of man as well as such issues of artificial intelligence (showing how computer programs can beat the greatest grand masters at chess, but also showing how Kasparov came back to beat a more advanced computer program). The authors provide evidence against scientific materialism showing that it is lacking in explanatory power by considering such issues as for example the fact that the brain can change. Finally, the authors note the great evils that can be done in the name of religion (e.g. the cult of Jim Jones), but also the great good (e.g. the work of Mother Theresa).
Is There a God Program? - the idea that spirituality must be looked at as part of the brain, and in particular the theory that there is a particular circuit of the brain responsible for spirituality. The authors consider such theories as the idea of the "God part" of brain (but showing how this theory ends up begging several important questions), as well as the idea that belief in God is encoded into our genes (but mentioning several problems with this theory).
Does a God Module Even Exist? - considering the notion of a "God module" in the brain by examining such issues as mystical experiences amongst epileptics and those suffering from temporal-lobe epilepsy. The authors examine the evidence for TLE among various mystics and saints. The authors consider such issues as a "God switch" activated by the epileptic seizure as well as the possibility of deciding such issues through experiment mentioning the work of Ramachandran.
The Strange Case of the God Helmet - the authors consider the "God helmet" invented by Michael Persinger that supposedly induces RSMEs and OBEs. However, the authors show that much of the problem with this invention is that it can be explained more parsimoniously through the concept of suggestibility, despite its enormous popularity.
Are Mind and Brain Identical? - the authors consider the issue of mind/brain, examining such important concepts as the nature of consciousness, "qualia", the role of the self, free will, and the materialist explanation for consciousness. The authors consider possible answers for this question including: epiphenomenalism, eliminative materialism, psychophysical identity theory, mentalism, substance dualism, and dualistic interactionism. The authors seem to promote a dualistic interactionism of sorts as advocated by neuroscientist and Catholic philosopher John Eccles.
Toward a Nonmaterialist Science of Mind - the authors consider evidence for a nonmaterialist understanding of the nature of mind. In particular, the authors examine such issues as the treatment of OCD in which feedback between mind and brain seems to indicate a distinction between the two, the possibility of responsible choices, learning to live without fear, and the idea that "believing can make it so". In particular, the authors consider two important effects - the placebo effect (meaning "I will please", in which belief seems to influence the results in a positive way) and the nocebo effect (meaning "I will harm", in which belief influences the results in a harmful way).The authors explain how they believe the occurrence of these effects offers evidence for the distinction between mind and brain - in that they cannot be explained otherwise. The authors also consider issues from parapsychology that cannot be easily explained away by materialistic science. Such issues include the study of near-death experiences (NDEs) and research into psi (which appears as a consistent laboratory effect). The authors argue that such issues as psi demonstrate the future direction of science in the same manner as similar unexplained effects led to the creation of quantum theory.
Who Has Mystical Experiences and What Triggers Them? - the authors considers the concepts and study of mysticism and RSMEs. The authors explain the presence of RSMEs and their occurrence among certain populations. The authors show how data on RSMEs has been collected mentioning the work of Hardy. The authors also offer up certain theories concerning RSMEs including those from evolutionary psychology (which they find ultimately problematic and actually unscientific), the idea of "selfish genes", and the role of "memes".
Do Religious, Spiritual, or Mystical Experiences Change Lives? - the authors argue that indeed there is a connection between belief and health. The authors also examine alleged studies to show the inefficacy of prayer, but argue that such studies are fundamentally flawed in that they claim to manipulate God within the laboratory.The authors also consider the role of religion and violence considering the issue of "fundamentalism".
The Carmelite Studies- the authors explain their research on the mystical experiences of Carmelite nuns, showing brain imaging techniques, and offer the conclusion that while science cannot prove the existence of God it can rule out other materialist explanations.
Did God Create the Brain or Does the Brain Create God? - the authors propose this question and seek to explain it in terms of a new neuroscience. The authors argue that despite much hostility to this new approach from materialists that in fact this science offers a great deal towards our understanding of the brain and spirituality.
This book offers a fascinating synthesis of the latest developments in neuroscience research and spirituality, mysticism, and religion. The authors offer much material to challenge the reigning materialistic viewpoint of the scientific establishment. Certainly despite one's particular worldview, one has much to consider after reading this book.
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25 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The authors of The Spiritual Brain hit a neuroscientific nerve, February 18, 2009
Few books stimulate so many diverse and passionate reviews as "The Spiritual Brain." I award five stars as a layperson not so much because of the scientific and philosophical arguments of the authors, but because they have dared to transcend the logic-tight barriers between the disciplines of science, religion and philosophy. They have opened doors for science that few materialistic scientists care to recognize. The stakes are very high in this discussion, as we shall see. For this is nothing less than a discussion of the nature of a human being ... is he or she simply a more evolved type of animal, or different in kind, far more than a complicated evolutionary accident? The answer to this question is critical to the course of civilization. The primary issue is whether this question can be adequately addressed by a strictly materialistic science. Many great scientific minds had their doubts.
Late in his career, Abraham Maslow, the great psychologist and founder of the "third force" movement in psychology, dared to do much the same thing as authors Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary. When Dr. Maslow's book "The Psychology of Science" ventured to critique materialistic science for being too narrow in its focus, the attacks by the scientific establishment were bitter and relentless. Arthur G. Wirth, a prominent member of The John Dewey Society, mused in the Introduction to "The Psychology of Science," a predictive question: "Why would a man hurl his lance against the citadel and risks the rocks and hot oil he may expect in return?" Yet Maslow's complaint was simply that the adherents of the mechanomorphic tradition of the physical sciences were not necessarily wrong, but rather too narrow to serve as a general philosophical platform for science. Dr. Maslow was a well-trained Freudian and behaviorist. He said when he began to study the higher reaches of human nature, his training failed him. He believed that peak experiences were authentic, natural events and worthy of study. What Maslow declared were his "most important findings," the reality of metavalues (the classic triad of truth, beauty and goodness) and their power to influence and perhaps even configure human personalities, especially self-actualizing personalities. These findings were brushed aside by the broader establishment and are in danger of being lost. Yet these issues have never been resolved, and "The Spiritual Brain" helps remind us that more research and discourse are in order.
Many great minds hold that peak experiences and metavalues are not mystic fluff as some would have us believe. Abraham Maslow was a pragmatic scientist and a professed atheist. Much as William James, he believed that values and spiritual experiences should not be the exclusive domain of religionists. He advocated a science of values. He also grasped that the metavalues of truth, beauty and goodness transcend the disciplines of science, theology, and philosophy. Maslow understood that science does not have all the answers. Science can tell us much about material reality, or what is. Science can even suggest possibilities, what could be. But the poet or the religionist offers a vision for us of what ought to be. And science without values builds bigger bombs and more efficient gas chambers. Dr. Maslow fought hard to break down the barriers between the disciplines of science and religion. He wrote:
"I [have] pointed out that both orthodox science and orthodox religion have been institutionalized and frozen into a mutually excluding dichotomy. This separation into Aristotelian a and not-a has been almost perfect ... Every question, every answer, every method, every jurisdiction, every task has been assigned to either one or the other, with practically no overlaps. One consequence is that they are both pathologized, split into sickness, ripped apart into a crippled half-science and a crippled half-religion."
Philosopher Mortimer Adler also lamented the rigid divisions between the three great disciplines that lay claim to truth: science, religion and philosophy. (See his autobiography, "A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror," for the story of his struggle about this issue with crystallized academicians and his pivotal speech: "God and the Professors.") Why is this Aristotelian division between the great disciplines important? Because, though Aristotle's divisions worked well for 20 centuries, the strict paths they followed are running out of ideas in the modern world, and material science is the best example. One of the great founders of quantum mechanics, Werner Heisenberg saw this clearly. In his book, "Beyond the Frontiers," he flatly stated that quantum science had vindicated Plato, who held that concepts like truth, beauty and goodness are realities that transcend the material. Over the years the common wisdom developed that a Platonic notion was unreal, only nebulous froth. However, the legendary quantum scientist and framer of the uncertainty principle, Heisenberg, supports the concept that philosophy's classic values of truth, beauty and goodness, are realities--active agents that transcend the material.
But what of the spiritual experience? The authors of "The Spiritual Brain," Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary point out that Maslow referred to the ultimate human state of consciousness as the Peak Experience. His research revealed that most people, whether they were Actualizers or not, achieved a peak experience state for brief periods. Materialistic neuroscientists claim this is an illusion. Laypersons must decide for themselves. But we are not helpless before the a priori assumptions of scientists, religionists, and philosophers. We have personal experiences that either validate one point of view or the other. Most of us have had peak experiences, and for my part, I am certain they were real. Modern psychologist and noted author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls the peak experience Flow, the ultimate state of happiness. Maslow's concept of self-actualization could be likened to achieving flow more often, to living at a higher level of self-forgetfulness, creativity, and service.
Why are these issues so important? Viktor Frankl, another Freudian scientist (and survivor of Nazi death camps) explained the importance of perceiving a human being as more than a malleable "meat puppet" (in the words of the authors of "The Spiritual Brain"). In Frankl's classic, "The Doctor and the Soul" he wrote: "When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, ... we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone. I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment--or, as the Nazis liked to say, "Blood and Soil." I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers."
The authors of "The Spiritual Brain," Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary, are doing a great service with their book. For the layperson, it is a challenging read. Even so, I found it persuasive and fascinating. Ultimately this discussion is about more than scientific data. It is also the interpretation and meaning of this data that must be resolved. The religionist and the philosopher ask different questions than the scientist. We need the insights of all three in rational debate if we are to determine issues of the magnitude presented in "The Spiritual Brain." And, as I stated earlier, the stakes are high.
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