Dr. VS Ramachandran is the Director, Center for Brain and Congnition, University of California, San Diego and a well-known neuroscientist. He delivered the Reith Lectures in 2003 which were titled "The Emerging Mind." He essentially studies the neurological basis of various factors that make a human being "human". He uses the examples of Phantom Limb and Capgras Syndrome to make his point. He traces human thoughts, emotions and perceptions to the brain circuit. He has also shown appreciation of art (or otherwise) to neurological phenomenon. Our awareness of self and consciousness has also been attributed to certain activities in the brain. While such research is groundbreaking, questions are raised about reducing human beings to a neuron. If we are happy we would say so and not say that there is a high level of serotonin or dopamine in my brain. The mind and the body are well accounted for by Dr.VS Ramachandran but what about the soul and the spirit. Can human beings be reduced to neural activities?
VS Ramachandran – A Reductionist?
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