The Self and Its Brain, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1977

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.

I by Karl R. Popper.- P1 Materialism Transcends Itself.- 1. Kant’s Argument.- 2. Men and Machines.- 3. Materialism Transcends Itself.- 4. Remarks on the Term “Real”.- 5. Materialism, Biology, and Mind.- 6. Organic Evolution.- 7. Nothing New Under the Sun. Reductionism and “Downward Causation”.- 8. Emergence and its Critics.- 9. Indeterminism; the Interaction of Levels of Emergence.- P2 The Worlds 1, 2 and 3.- 10. Interaction; The Worlds 1, 2 and 3.- 11. The Reality of World 3.- 12. Unembodied World 3 Objects.- 13. Grasping a World 3 Object.- 14. The Reality of Unembodied World 3 Objects.- 15. World 3 and the Mind-Body Problem.- P3 Materialism Criticized.- 16. Four Materialist or Physicalist Positions.- 17. Materialism and the Autonomous World 3.- 18. Radical Materialism or Radical Behaviourism.- 19. Panpsychism.- 20. Epiphenomenalism.- 21. A Revised Form of J. B. S. Haldane’s Refutation of Materialism.- 22. The So-called Identity Theory.- 23. Does the Identity Theory Escape the Fate of Epiphenomenalism?.- 24. A Critical Note on Parallelism. The Identity Theory as a Form of Parallelism.- 25. Additional Remarks on Some Recent Materialist Theories.- 26. The New Promissory Materialism.- 27. Results and Conclusion.- P4 Some Remarks on the Self.- 28. Introduction.- 29. Selves.- 30. The Ghost in the Machine.- 31. Learning to be a Self.- 32. Individuation.- 33. Self-Identity: The Self and Its Brain.- 34. The Biological Approach to Human Knowledge and Intelligence.- 35. Consciousness and Perception.- 36. The Biological Function of Conscious and Intelligent Activity.- 37. The Integrative Function of Consciousness.- 38. The Continuity of the Self.- 39. Learning from Experience: The Natural Selection of Theories.- 40. Criticism of the Theory of Unconditioned and Conditioned Reflexes.- 41. Kinds of Memory.- 42. The Self Anchored in World 3.- P5 Historical Comments on the Mind-Body Problem.- 43. The History of Our Picture of the Universe.- 44. A Problem to be Solved by What Follows.- 45. The Prehistoric Discovery of the Self and of World 2.- 46. The Mind-Body Problem in Greek Philosophy.- 47. Conjectural versus Ultimate Explanation.- 48. Descartes: A Shift in the Mind-Body Problem.- 49. From Interactionism to Parallelism: The Occasionalists and Spinoza.- 50. Leibniz’s Theory of Mind and Matter: From Parallelism to Identity.- 51. Newton, Boscovich, Maxwell: The End of Ultimate Explanation.- 52. The Association of Ideas as an Ultimate Explanation.- 53. Neutral Monism.- 54. The Identity Theory After Leibniz: From Kant to Feigl.- 55. Linguistic Parallelism.- 56. A Final Look at Materialism.- P6 Summary.- Bibliography to Part I.- II by John C. Eccles.- E1 The Cerebral Cortex.- 1. Résumé.- 2. Anatomical Introduction.- 3. The Columnar Arrangement and the Modular Concept of the Cerebral Cortex.- 4. Modular Interaction.- 4.1 Patterns of Module Action and Interaction.- 5. The Connectivities of Cortical Areas.- 6. Connectivities of the Limbic System.- E2 Conscious Perception.- 7. Résumé.- 8. Introduction.- 9. Cutaneous Perception (Somaethesis).- 9.1 Pathways to Primary Sensory Area in Cortex.- 9.2 Temporal Analysis of Cutaneous Perception.- 9.3 Secondary and Tertiary Sensory Areas.- 10. Visual Perception.- 10.1 Retina to Primary Visual Area in Cortex.- 10.2 Stages in Reconstitution of the Visual Image.- 10.3 The Perceived Visual Image.- 11. Auditory Perception.- 12. Olfactory Perception.- 13. Emotional Colouring of Conscious Perceptions.- 14. Epilogue.- E3 Voluntary Movement.- 15. Résumé.- 16. Introduction.- 17. The Motor Unit.- 18. The Motor Cortex.- 19. Voluntary Movement.- 20. The Cerebellar Controls of Voluntary Movement.- 20.1 The Closed Loop via the Pars Intermedia of the Cerebellum.- 20.2 The Open-Loop System via the Cerebellar Hemispheres.- 21. The Open-Loop Circuits via the Basal Ganglia.- 22. Synthesis of the Various Neuronal Mechanisms Concerned in the Control of Voluntary Movement.- 23. General Discussion.- E4 The Language Centres of the Human Brain.- 24. Résumé.- 25. Introduction.- 26. Aphasia.- 27. Experiments on Exposed Brains.- 28. Intracarotid Injections of Sodium Amytal.- 29. The Dichotic Listening Test.- 30. The Self-Conscious Mind and Speech.- 31. Anatomical Substrates of Speech Mechanisms.- 32. The Acquisition of Language.- E5 Global Lesions of the Human Cerebrum.- 33. Résumé.- 34. Introduction.- 35. Investigations on the Human Brain After Commissural Section-Commissurotomy.- 36. Discussion on Commissurotomy.- 37. Investigations on the Human Cerebrum after Gross Lesions and Hemispherectomy.- 38. Discussion on Hemispherectomy.- 39. Summary of Linguistic Abilities Disclosed by Global Lesions.- E6 Circumscribed Cerebral Lesions.- 40. Résumé.- 41. Introduction.- 42. Temporal Lobe Lesions.- 43. Parietal Lobe Lesions.- 44. Occipital Lobe Lesions.- 45. Frontal Lobe Lesions.- 46. The Limbic System.- 47. The Dominant and Minor Hemispheres.- E7 The Self-Conscious Mind and the Brain.- 48. Résumé.- 49. Introduction.- 50. Self-Conscious Mind and the Brain.- 51. Hypothesis of Interaction of Self-Conscious Mind and the Liaison Brain.- 52. The Hypothesis of Cortical Modules and the Self-Conscious Mind.- 53. Sleep, Dreams and Various Forms of Unconsciousness.- 54. Plasticity of “Open” Modules.- 55. Summary.- E8 Conscious Memory: The Cerebral Processes Concerned in Storage and Retrieval.- 56. Résumé.- 57. Introduction.- 58. Structural and Functional Changes Possibly Related to Memory.- 59. The So-called Growth Theory of Learning.- 60. The Role of the Self-Conscious Mind in Short-Term Memory.- 61. The Role of the Hippocampus in Learning and Memory.- 62. Hypothesis of Neuronal Happenings in Memory Storage.- 63. Memory Retrieval.- 64. Durations of Memories.- 65. Plastic Responses of Cerebral Cortex.- 66. Retrograde Amnesia.- Bibliography to Part II.- III Dialogues Between the Two Authors.- Dialogue I.- Dialogue II.- Dialogue III.- Dialogue IV.- Dialogue V.- Dialogue VI.- Dialogue VII.- Dialogue VIII.- Dialogue IX.- Dialogue X.- Dialogue XI.- Dialogue XII.- Bibliography to Part III.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.