Unit 1 Post


The material covered in unit one of this course deals with several interesting topics including; loss, memory, emotion, the soul and neural processing. The topic I found most interesting was the concept of the soul, and way in which science has begun to explain this concept in a more analytical way. Plato (424-343 BCE) for example, viewed the soul as endless, an entity that continues even after death:
So the soul is immortal and has been many times reborn; and since it has seen all things, both in this world and in the other, there is nothing it has not learnt – From Plato, Meno (c. 382 BC)

The soul in his eyes was an all knowing entity with infallible memory, and no need to learn anything new, as there was nothing it did not know already. He believed there to be 3-parts to this soul that included the Appetitive, Rational, and Spirited. The first dealt with the excess of pleasure and pain, and their increase of deviant behavior. The 2nd which contemplates the form, deals with more complex thought process and finally the spirited which is constantly trying to restore us to our rational form. Although Plato’s understanding of human behavior focused on more spiritual and religious explanations, it was still an attempt to understand how the human mind works.

As the sciences have progressed, disciplines like neuropsychology have become integral in understanding how the human mind operates, processes information and replays it to the outside world. Plato referred to this complex processing as a “soul”, that must be all-knowing, ancient even, but the truth is far more fascinating. The number of neurons in the brain for example exceeds 100 billion, which is the approximate number of stars in the Milky Way. This means that our brain is communicating at a very high level, exchanging chemical responses constantly, and must do so to coordinate all the things we do on a daily basis. Memory for example begins in our brains cortex where information is registered, is then consolidated by our hippocampus. This process allows for the construction of long-term memory, and the ability to recall it at a later date. It allows you to remember your favorite ice cream shop as child, and possibly what the wall paper looked like inside. These memories may also have complex emotions attached to them, processed by the amygdala in the limbic system.

If in fact the “soul” is unchanging then the case of Phineas Gage would be far more difficult to explain. In 1848, Phineas Gage was struck by an iron rod that went through his skull transecting his frontal lobe. This part of the brain is important for personality and decision-making, and after the accident Phineas was more erratic, took more risks, and was volatile with others. This case study suggested that different parts of our brain are responsible for things like; personality, intelligence, motor abilities and so on. It also discredits the idea that the “soul” remains intact or unchanged even after death.  

Although many may view the idea of a scientific explanation for how the mind works lacking in divine beauty, I think they are not fully considering the complexity and connection of life on earth. As the first law of thermodynamics states, energy is neither created nor destroyed, it can merely be transferred or transformed. Maybe this dissipated energy from our brains after death, is a kind of soul that continues on. Not in the form that Plato described, but in a new transformed version somewhere in the solar system.

“The atoms of our bodies are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded these enriched ingredients across our galaxy, billions of years ago. For this reason, we are biologically connected to every other living thing in the world. We are chemically connected to all molecules on Earth. And we are atomically connected to all atoms in the universe. We are not figuratively, but literally stardust.” Neil deGrasse Tyson

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