Neuroscience: Picturing the soul

Neuroscience and the soul.

Neuroscience, quantum indeterminism and the Cartesian soul.

Quantum indeterminism is frequently invoked as a solution to the problem of how a disembodied soul might interact with the brain (as Descartes proposed), and is sometimes invoked in theories of libertarian free will even when they do not involve dualistic assumptions. Taking as example the Eccles-Beck model of interaction between self (or soul) and brain at the level of synaptic exocytosis, I h...

Neuroscience and the soul: competing explanations for the human experience.

The development of fMRI techniques has generated a boom of neuroscience research across the psychological sciences, and revealed neural correlates for many psychological phenomena seen as central to the human experience (e.g., morality, agency). Meanwhile, the rise of neuroscience has reignited old debates over mind-body dualism and the soul. While some scientists use neuroscience to bolster a ...

Soul, mind, brain: Greek philosophy and the birth of neuroscience.

The nature of "soul" and the source of "psychic life", the anatomical seat of cognitive, motor and sensory functions, and the origin of neural diseases were broadly debated by ancient Greek scientists since the earliest times. Within the space of few centuries, speculation of philosophers and medical thinkers laid the foundations of modern experimental and clinical neuroscience. This review pro...

Whatever happened to the soul? Some theological implications of neuroscience

What sets human beings apart from animals? How does ‘‘mind’’ fit with soul? Different historical and contemporary views of the mind/soul are considered. A clinical case is used to argue that a strong dualistic position is not compatible with neuro-scientific evidence nor with the expectation of life after death found in the Abrahamic faiths. Reductive physicalism is a widely held view, but risk...