Difference between revisions of "John Eccles"
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(the view that the human mind included a part existing distinctly from the physical brain) |
(rejected the "claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity") |
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Sir '''John Eccles''' was a [[Nobel]]-prize winning scientist who "was a strong advocate and collaborator with his long-time friend, Sir [[Karl Popper]], in promoting understanding of the importance of the [[hypothetico-deductive approach]] to science, in which the scientist must formulate a [[hypothesis]] and deduce from that consequences that can be [[falsified]] by [[testing]]. <ref name=nwe>[http://www.encyclopediaproject.net/wiki/John_Carew_Eccles#The_mystery_of_the_self Encyclopedia Project]</ref> | Sir '''John Eccles''' was a [[Nobel]]-prize winning scientist who "was a strong advocate and collaborator with his long-time friend, Sir [[Karl Popper]], in promoting understanding of the importance of the [[hypothetico-deductive approach]] to science, in which the scientist must formulate a [[hypothesis]] and deduce from that consequences that can be [[falsified]] by [[testing]]. <ref name=nwe>[http://www.encyclopediaproject.net/wiki/John_Carew_Eccles#The_mystery_of_the_self Encyclopedia Project]</ref> | ||
"In his specialty of neuroscience, he was a forceful and nearly singular voice upholding the view that the human mind included a part existing distinctly from the physical brain and not explainable as an epiphenomena of that brain."<ref name=nwe /> | "In his specialty of neuroscience, he was a forceful and nearly singular voice upholding the view that the human mind included a part existing distinctly from the physical brain and not explainable as an epiphenomena of that brain."<ref name=nwe /> | ||
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| + | Eccles opposed [[scientific reductionism]]: | ||
| + | *I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory [[materialism]] to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition. . . . we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world. --Evolution of the Brain, Creation of the Self, p. 241 [http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/science/prat-bra.htm] | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 15:14, February 14, 2011
Sir John Eccles was a Nobel-prize winning scientist who "was a strong advocate and collaborator with his long-time friend, Sir Karl Popper, in promoting understanding of the importance of the hypothetico-deductive approach to science, in which the scientist must formulate a hypothesis and deduce from that consequences that can be falsified by testing. [1] "In his specialty of neuroscience, he was a forceful and nearly singular voice upholding the view that the human mind included a part existing distinctly from the physical brain and not explainable as an epiphenomena of that brain."[1]
Eccles opposed scientific reductionism:
- I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition. . . . we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world. --Evolution of the Brain, Creation of the Self, p. 241 [1]