English 391W: Brain Narratives Spring 2013 Professor Jason Tougaw David Lodge’s Thinks…, “the Mind-Body Problem,” and the Liberal Arts

The Liberal Arts A Liberal Arts education involves the study of a collection of intellectual fields designed to find and make meaning (as opposed to training students in the skills of a particular profession). These fields include the humanities (literature, art history, media studies); social sciences (sociology, anthropology); the sciences (physics, neuroscience, geology); and mathematics. In the ancient world, the liberal arts were understood as the range of subjects necessary for a “free person” to act as a citizen. The practice of the liberal arts in universities involves conversation—or debate—about difficult questions: What makes a life worthwhile? What are the origins of the universe? What is the relationship between mind and body? The idea is that only through the airing of disparate viewpoints can citizens become conversant in the questions that define what it means to be alive. In Thinks…, David Lodge makes Ralph Messenger and Helen Reed representatives of opposing viewpoints in one of these conversations, about the relationship between mind and body, the origins and meaning of consciousness, and the nature of the self. The novel is an invitation for readers to join the conversation.

How would you describe the writer’s audience? What are the writer’s motives with regard to this audience? Where would you position yourself relative to that audience? How would you evaluate the writer’s success relative to the goals you mentioned? What’s your favorite element of the text? Your least favorite? Did the text challenge or change the way you think in any way?

Monism: Matter (including brains and bodies) and consciousness are the same thing. Materialism: The brain is all there is; everything we know about reality and ourselves must emerge from the 3 ½ pounds of flesh (neural and myelin cells,etc.) in our skulls. Dualism: The self, or soul, must originate from something other--higher, more intelligent, or more rational-- than flesh.

Monism: Matter (including brains and bodies) and consciousness are the same thing. Materialism: Dualism:

Monism: Matter (including brains and bodies) and consciousness are the same thing. Materialism: The brain is all there is; everything we know about reality and ourselves must emerge from the 3 ½ pounds of flesh (neural and myelin cells,etc.) in our skulls. Dualism:

Monism: Matter (including brains and bodies) and consciousness are the same thing. Materialism: The brain is all there is; everything we know about reality and ourselves must emerge from the 3 ½ pounds of flesh (neural and myelin cells,etc.) in our skulls. Dualism: The self, or soul, must originate from something other--higher, more intelligent, or more rational-- than flesh.

Variations Monism: Identity, Panpsychism, Idealism Materialism: Behaviorialism, Identity, Emergence, Functionalism, Elimintivism (Dennett), Biological Naturalism (Searle) Dualism: Cartesian Dualism, Property Dualism (Chalmers), Emergence (Damasio), Epiphenomenalism, Biological Naturalism, Naturalistic Dualism (Chalmers), Paralellism

Dualism Mind and Body are separate entities (though they may overlap) Contemporary Variations: Interactionism: Mind and Body influence each other. Epiphenomenalism: Mental effects or states are caused by physical events in the brain but not vice versa; an epiphenomenalist would not believe in biofeedback or meditation. Parallelism: Mind and body are parallel, but do not intereact with or influence each other; this view is generally adopted by thinkers who believe in some form of intelligent design or divine creation.

Materialism Mental states are brain states; neural activity is everything; “folk” categories like “belief” or “desire” are quaint fictions we use to console ourselves. Contemporary Variations: Functionalism: the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a particular type does not depend on its internal constitution, but rather on the way it functions, or the role it plays, in the system of which it is a part. Identity theory: Mental states are identical to physiological brain states.

Descartes (mid-17th C) — mind (as opposed to soul) and body clearly separate (dualism), though intimately related (a constant paradox) Hume (late 18th C) — mind no more than “ bundles of perceptions ” (radical materialsm) William James (late 19th C) — emphasized consciousness over mind, suggesting that it is a “ process, ” not an entity Sigmund Freud — division of the “ conscious ” and “ unconscious ” minds, implying a reciprocal relationship between body and mind Contemporary neurobiologists (Damasio, Edelman) — are influenced by the philosophers and tend to emphasize certain enduring paradoxes: 1. mind is an “ emergent ” property of the brain but seems larger than the sum of brain functions 2. consciousness is both unified and constantly changing 3. consciousness is a produce of evolution, linking us to other species in quality but separating us in complexity 4. consciousness is what all humans share but it also divides us — because, as James pointed out a century ago, consciousness is an inherently personal experience.

Group Project Find a moment when the worldview of your assigned character is challenged. What’s the source of the challenge? How does the character handle it? Does s/he question or revise his or her assumptions or ideas? Where do the members of your group stand on the subject? Do your ideas match the characters’? Differ from the characters’? Are you undecided? Do you agree or disagree with each other? Groups: 1. Danielle, Adrian, Sam (Helen) 2. Tracy, Gerardo, Ariel (Ralph) 3. Anthony, Shahana, Charlene (Helen) 4. Nishant, Jennifer, Sadia (Ralph) 5. Shannon, Robert, Arefa (Helen) 6. Hong, Debra, Chris (Ralph)