RT Article
T1 On Brain, Soul, Self, and Freedom: An Essay in Bridging Neuroscience and Faith
JF Zygon
VO 38
IS 2
SP 377
OP 392
A1 Oomen, Palmyre M. F.
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2003
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1827956119
AB The article begins at the intellectual fissure between many statements coming from neuroscience and the language of faith and theology. First I show that some conclusions drawn from neuroscientific research are not as firm as they seem: neuroscientific data leave room for the interpretation that mind matters. I then take a philosophical-theological look at the notions of soul, self, and freedom, also in the light of modern scientific research (self-organization, neuronal networks), and present a view in which these theologically important notions are seen in relation both to matter (brain) and to God. I show that religious insights expressed with soul and free will bear a remarkable resemblance to certain insights from neuroscience and the science of complex, self-organizing systems, including emphasis on corporeality and emphasis on organization as a form of that corporeality, and that they also show an interesting parallel — albeit described in different terms — concerning the crucial role of a valuation principle that generates attraction. With that, the common-sense idea that freedom simply is the same as indeterminism is refuted: freedom primarily means self-determination. I bring to the fore that the self is not a static thing but a “longing.” Such longing springs from something, and it is the relationship to this source that constitutes the self. The main concern is to point out the crucial role of attraction with respect to being and to life, and to draw attention not only to the astonishing parallel on this point between Thomas Aquinas and Alfred North Whitehead but also to a surprising — albeit more implicit — analogy between these philosophical-theological views and scientific theories of self-organization (such as those concerning neuronal networks). In short, being attracted toward what appears as “good” is what constitutes us as selves and what thereby signifies the primary meaning of our freedom.
K1 Alfred North Whitehead
K1 valuation principle
K1 supervenience
K1 Soul
K1 self-organizing system
K1 Self-determination
K1 Self
K1 Neuroscience
K1 neuronal network
K1 Free Will
K1 fitness function
K1 Corporeality
K1 Consciousness
K1 Attraction
K1 Thomas Aquinas
DO 10.1111/1467-9744.00505