The Self and Its Brain

607 Pages·1977·15.58 MB·English

by  Sir Karl R. Popper

Popper/Eccles The Self and Its Brain
The Self and Its Brain
by Karl R. Popper and John C. Eccles
With 66 Figures
ISl
Springer International
Sir Karl Popper
Fallowfield, Manor Close, Manor Road, Penn, Buckinghamshire, England
Sir John Eccles
Contra (Locarno) CH-6611 Switzerland
Corrected 2nd Printing 1985
Corrected Printing 1981
ISBN-13:978-3-642-61893-2 e-ISBN-13:978-3-642-61891-8
DOI:I0.I007/978-3-642-61891-8
Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberger Platz 3, 0-1000 Berlin 33
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Springer-Verlag London, 37 A, Church Road, Wimbledon, London S. W. 19-500
UbrlIJy of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data Popper, Karl RaImund, SIr,1902- The self and Its bram.Blbhogra
phy. p. Includes index. 1 Mind and body. 2. Self. 3. Brain. I Eccles, John, SIr, Jomt author II. Title BF161.P585 128'2
77-12397
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© by Sir Karl Popper and Sir John Eccles, 1977
Softcover reprint of the hardcover lst edition 1977
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To our wives
Each waking day is a stage dominated for good or ill, in comedy, farce or tragedy by a dra
matis persona, the 'self', and so it will be until the curtain drops.
c. S. Sherrington, 1947.
Only human beings guide their behaviour by a knowledge of what happened before they were
born and a preconception of what may happen after they are dead: thus only human beings
find their way by a light that illumines more than the patch of ground they stand on.
Peter B. Medawar and Jean S. Medawar, 1977.
Preface
The problem of the relation between our bodies and our minds, and espe
cially of the link between brain structures and processes on the one hand
and mental dispositions and events on the other is an exceedingly difficult
one. Without pretending to be able to foresee future developments, both
authors of this book think it improbable that the problem will ever be
solved, in the sense that we shall really understand this relation. We think
that no more can be expected than to make a little progress here or there.
We have written this book in the hope that we have been able to do so.
We are conscious of the fact that what we have done is very conjectur
al and very modest. We are aware of our fallibility; yet we believe in the
intrinsic value of every human effort to deepen our understanding of our
selves and of the world we live in. We believe in humanism: in human
rationality, in human science, and in other human achievements, however
fallible they are. We are unimpressed by the recurrent intellectual fashions
that belittle science and the other great human achievements.
An additional motive for writing this book is that we both feel that the
debunking of man has gone far enough - even too far. It is said that we
had to learn from Copernicus and Darwin that man's place in the universe
is not so exalted or so exclusive as man once thought. That may well be.
But since Copernicus we have learned to appreciate how wonderful and
rare, perhaps even unique, our little Earth is in this big universe; and since
Darwin we have learned more about the incredible organization of allliv
ing things on Earth, and also about the unique position of man among his
fellow creatures.
These are some of the points on which the two authors of the book
agree. But we also disagree on a number of important points. We hope
that these points will become clear in our recorded dialogue which forms
Part III of the book.
VIII
However, it may be well to mention at once one important difference
between the authors: a difference in religious belief. One of us (Eccles) is
a believer in God and the supernatural, while the other (Popper) may be
describe~ as an agnostic. Each of us not only deeply respects the position
of the other, but sympathizes with it.
This difference of opinion should be quite immaterial in our discussion
of some of the problems, especially of the purely scientific ones, but it
obtrudes in our discussion of problems of a more philosophical nature.
Thus one of us is inclined to defend the idea of the survival of the human
soul as does Socrates in Plato's Phaedo, while the other inclines towards
an agnostic position more like that of Socrates in Plato's Apology. And,
although we are both evolutionists, Eccles believes that the gulf between
animal consciousness and human self-consciousness is wider than Popper
thinks it to be. However, we do agree on many important points, such as
a distrust of solutions which are very simple. We suspect that there are
deep riddles to be solved. Our main thesis - psychophysical interactionism
- will be discussed at length in the book. Here we wish to mention just
one or two points of method.
Among these, we agree on the importance of a presentation that stri
ves for clarity and simplicity. Words should be used well and carefully (we
have certainly not everywhere succeeded in this); but their meaning
should never, we think, become a topic of discussion or be permitted to
dominate the discussion, as happens so often in contemporary philosophi
cal writing. And although it is sometimes useful to indicate in which of its
various senses we use a word, it is not possible to do so by defining it,
since every definition must make essential use of undefined terms. Where
practicable, we have used non-technical terms in preference to technical
ones.
However, to put it in a nutshell, what we are interested in is not the
meaning of terms but the truth of theories; and this truth is largely inde
pendent of the terminology used.
Something may be said in this connection about our use of the terms
"soul", "mind", "self", "consciousness of self", and so on. We have in the
main avoided the word "soul" because in the English language it has
strong religious connotations. It is not quite the same with the words
"Seele", "anima", "psyche". The word "mind" is used as in ordinary lan
guage (for example "I made up my mind"). We have tried to avoid its
philosophical connotations: what is important is not to prejudge the issue
by the terminology used.
IX
It may be mentioned that we have decided not to refer to parapsycho
logy, of which neither of us has had any direct experience.
This book may be described as an attempt in interdisciplinary co-ope
ration. One of us (Eccles) is a brain scientist who was led into this field of
research by his life-long interest in the brain-mind problem. The other
(Popper) is a philosopher who throughout his life has been dissatisfied
with the prevailing schools of philosophy and deeply interested in science.
Both are dualists or even pluralists, and interactionists. Their co-operation
was inspired by the hope of learning from each other.
The P (Popper) and E (Eccles) chapters form Parts I and II of the
book. They were written independently, partly in the Villa Serbelloni, and
partly later, during the two years that have elapsed since. Part III is based
on the taped recording of a dialogue that was carried on from day to day
as indicated by the dates and times. It spontaneously flowed from the
many discussions that we had while walking in the lovely grounds of the
Villa Serbelloni; especially from discussions of problems on which we disa
greed. We have decided to present it more or less in its original form.
(However, we cut out in the end some of the topics from our dialogue
because they were afterwards treated at length in our respective chapters;
though this may in some cases have been at the cost of continuity.) The
dialogue shows that some of our views changed in the light of criticisms
that arose in different guises from day to day.
KARL R. POPPER
JOHN C. ECCLES
Acknowledgements
We wish to express our thanks firstly to Doctor Ralph Richardson and Doctor Jane Allen of
the Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio Study and Conference Center) for arranging the invita
tion to the Center. Doctor William Olson, the Director of the Center and Mrs Olson pro
vided wonderful hospitality in the most attractive of Academic havens, the Villa Serbelloni
on Lago di Como. For the month of September 1974 we were guests there with our wives.
The venue was ideal for wandering and talking between the discipline of writing our respecti
ve chapters, and eventually the developing peripatetic dialogue was recorded in daily taped
sessions to form Part III of this book.
J.CE.
K.R.P.
The influence on my sections of discussions with Sir John Eccles - especially of the long
discussion of 1974 which was recorded and is now reproduced in this book - will be appa
rent. He has, in addition, made critical comments on my sections, and suggested several
important improvements. So have Sir Ernst Gombrich, and also my wife, who typed and
criticized in detail several versions of the manuscript.
Jeremy Shearmur who, thanks to the generosity of the Nuffield Foundation, is my Re
search Assistant, was immensely helpful. He carefully scrutinized an earlier version. He criti
cized the presentation of my arguments, and made many suggestions for remedies. He also
made important positive contributions, which I have acknowledged at the relevant places.
I would also like to thank Mrs. P. Watts for her work on typing the final manuscript, and
David Miller for his help with the proofs.
K.R.P.
Without the example, encouragement and criticism of Sir Karl Popper I would not have
dared to express my ideas on the brain-mind problem in the manner evident in the philo
sophical sections of my chapters. I wish to express my thanks to my wife, Helena, for her
valuable comments on the manuscript and for composing many of the illustrations as well as
for much of the typing. Most of this manuscript was completed during my Buffalo period. My
assistant, Miss Virginia Muniak, made a specially notable contribution by her typing from the
12 hour taped recording of our dialogues (Part III). Miss Tecla Rantucci gave most valuable
assistance in the construction of some of the figures and with her expert photography.
I wish to express my grateful thanks to the many neuroscientists named below for so
kindly allowing the reproduction of figures from their publications and in some cases for
providing me with figures for reproduction: Drs G. Allen, T. Bliss, A. Brodal, A. Gardner
XII
Medwin, N. Geschwind, G. Gray, A. Hein, R. Held, D. Hubel, E. Jones, H. Komhuber,
B. Libet, B. Milner, T. Powell, R. Sperry, J. Szentagothai, C. Trevarthen, N. Tsukahara, and
T. Wiesel.
J.C.E.
Our association with the publishers has not been in the characteristic mode of a purely busi
ness relationship. Dr. Heinz Gotze, President of Springer-Verlag, has taken a deep personal
interest through the long incubation period of over two years and has been wonderfully
helpful to both of us. Once the manuscript was finally submitted at the end of March, 1977,
the efficiency of his staff, notably Miss Monika Brendel and Mr. Kurt Teichmann, has result
ed in a publication in just six months, which is remarkable for a book of this size and comple
xity.
K. R. P.
J. C. E.
Contents
PART I by Karl R. Popper
Chapter PI Materialism Transcends Itself 3
1. Kant's Argument . . . . . . . 3
2. Men and Machines . . . . . . 4
3. Materialism Transcends Itself 5
4. Remarks on the Term "Real" 9
5. Materialism, Biology, and Mind 11
6. Organic Evolution ....... 11
7. Nothing New Under the Sun. Reductionism and "Downward Causation" 14
8. Emergence and its Critics ............... 22
9. Indeterminism; the Interaction of Levels of Emergence . . . . . . . . .. 32
Chapter P2 The Worlds 1, 2 and 3 36
10. Interaction; The Worlds 1,2 and 3 36
11. The Reality of World 3 ..... . 38
12. Unembodied World 3 Objects . . 41
13. Grasping a World 3 Object 43
14. The Reality of Unembodied World 3 Objects 46
15. World 3 and the Mind-Body Problem 47
Chapter P3 Materialism Criticized .. 51
16. Four Materialist or Physicalist Positions .. 51
17. Materialism and the Autonomous World 3 56
18. Radical Materialism or Radical Behaviourism 60
19. Panpsychism ................ . 67
20. Epiphenomenalism.............. 72
21. A Revised Form of J. B. S. Haldane's Refutation of Materialism 75
22. The So-called Identity Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
23. Does the Identity Theory Escape the Fate of Epiphenomenalism? 86
24. A Critical Note on Parallelism. The Identity Theory as a Form of
Parallelism ........................ . 88
25. Additional Remarks on Some Recent Materialist Theories 93
26. The New Promissory Materialism 96
27. Results and Conclusion ................. . 98