The Self and Its Brain
Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John)
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From the Back Cover
  1. The relation between body and mind is one of the oldest riddles that has puzzled mankind. That material and mental events may interact is accepted even by the law: our mental capacity to concentrate on the task can be seriously reduced by drugs. Physical and chemical processes may act upon the mind; and when we are writing a difficult letter, our mind acts upon our body and, through a chain of physical events, upon the mind of the recipient of the letter.
  2. This is what the authors of this book call the 'interaction of mental and physical events'. We know very little about this interaction; and according to recent philosophical fashions this is explained by the alleged fact that we have brains but no thoughts.
  3. The authors of this book stress that they cannot solve the body mind problem; but they hope that they have been able to shed new light on it. Eccles especially with his theory that the brain is a detector and amplifier; a theory that has given rise to important new developments, including new and exciting experiments; and Popper with his highly controversial theory of 'World 3'.
  4. They show that certain fashionable solutions which have been offered fail to understand the seriousness of the problems of the emergence of life, or consciousness and of the creativity of our minds.
  5. In Part I, Popper discusses the philosophical issue between dualist or even pluralist interaction on the one side, and materialism and parallelism on the other. There is also a historical review of these issues.
  6. In Part II, Eccles examines the mind from the neurological standpoint: the structure of the brain and its functional performance under normal as well as abnormal circumstances. The result is a radical and intriguing hypothesis on the interaction between mental events and detailed neurological occurrences in the cerebral cortex.
  7. Part III, based on twelve recorded conversations, reflects the exciting exchange between the authors as they attempt to come to terms with their opinions.

Amazon Customer Review 1
  1. The scientific aim of 'The Self and Its Brain: An Argument for Interactionism' is to add to our understanding of minds. Its moral aim is to defend the concept of human values against the perceived dehumanizing effects of materialism, reductionism and behaviourism. The danger of a mechanistic explanation of the mind is that the complete reduction of the mental mind to the physical brain must devalue the mind.
  2. A fair judgment is that this book is a failure in both aims, though any attempt to defend human dignity from intellectual assault is admirable and Karl Popper masterfully clarifies the underlying philosophical issues. Moreover, the Popper parts are clearly and beautifully written, as always.
  3. Karl Popper and John Eccles essentially agree with Rene Descartes' dualistic solution to the body-mind problem, saying that the mind interacts with the body at some place in the brain. There is no evidence for anywhere in the brain where such interactions might take place (Popper and Eccles conjecture it is the frontal lobes) and the notorious logical problems of Cartesian dualism (the infinite regress of a conscious observer in the mind, who needs a conscious observer in his own mind) are not addressed.
  4. The real problem, however, is in the assumption that such attributes necessary for human dignity as the conscious self, free will and rationality must act top-down from a mental world onto the mundane physical brain. Far better (I think) to seek a bottom-up mechanism in which mental attributes emerge from physical brain-processes. A 'modest reductionist' approach like this can none the less affirm the reality of self, free will and reason. It is employed by Daniel C. Dennett in "Dennett (Daniel) - Consciousness Explained" and in "Dennett (Daniel) - Freedom Evolves", for example, which say that we have a soul and free will but they are made from the interactions of lots of material parts ('tiny robots').
  5. Part 1 of 'The Self and its Brain' by Karl Popper concerns philosophy and is excellent. Part 2 by John Eccles concerns neurobiology and is unreadable. Part 3 consists of discussions between the two men that have been criticised as somewhat obscure (I do not find them so) but Popper's contributions are the more coherent and interesting.
  6. This book is worthwhile for Popper's examination of the underlying philosophical issues and for its Quixotic attempt to save human dignity and human meaning from 'materialism', even though they are not really under threat.

Amazon Customer Review 2
  1. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the mind/body problem and also for convinced materialists.
  2. Karl Popper's part of the book is fantastic. The focus of Popper's work is the critique of materialism and "essentialism", the idea that the universe can be reduced to one or many "substances". Popper suggests that essentialism should be given up in the mind/body debate, giving detailed scientific and philosophical reasons. This undermines both Cartesian dualism and materialism.
  3. Popper presents his plural interactionistic "three world" theory, containing the physical world, the mental world and the cultural world. This theory is also covered in his books "the Open Universe" and "Objective Knowledge". Unfortunately, Popper's "three world" philosophy has made little impact.
  4. However, the brilliance of Popper is weighed down by a ridiculous Eccles section. This part is simply incomprehensible, unless one has a degree in neuroscience. I cannot understand the level of detail in this section.

Contents
  1. PART I by Karl R. Popper
    • P1: Materialism Transcends Itself – 3
    • P2: The Worlds 1, 2 and 3 – 36
    • P3: Materialism Criticized – 51
    • P4: Some Remarks on the Self – 100
    • P5: Historical Comments on the Mind-Body Problem – 148
    • P6: Summary – 209
    • Bibliography to Part I – 211
  2. PART II by John C. Eccles
    • E1: The Cerebral Cortex – 227
    • E2: Conscious Perception – 250
    • E3: Voluntary Movement – 275
    • E4: The Language Centres of the Human Brain – 295
    • E5: Global Lesions of the Human Cerebrum1 – 311
    • E6: Circumscribed Cerebral Lesions – 334
    • E7: The Self-Conscious Mind and the Brain – 355
    • E8: Conscious Memory: The Cerebral Processes Concerned in Storage and Retrieval
    • Bibliography to Part II – 407
  3. PART III Dialogues Between the Two Authors
    • I – 425
    • II – 437
    • III – 449
    • IV – 461
    • V – 471
    • VI – 485
    • VII – 498
    • VIII – 510
    • IX – 521
    • X – 532
    • XI – 548
    • XII – 562
    • Bibliography to Part III – 567
  4. Index of Names – 569
    Index of Subjects – 577


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - The Self and Its Brain: Preface"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) - Materialism Transcends Itself"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    1. Kant's Argument – 3
    2. Men and Machines – 4
    3. Materialism Transcends Itself – 5
    4. Remarks on the Term "Real" – 9
    5. Materialism, Biology, and Mind – 11
    6. Organic Evolution – 11
    7. Nothing New Under the Sun. Reductionism and "Downward Causation1" – 14
    8. Emergence and its Critics – 22
    9. Indeterminism; the Interaction of Levels of Emergence – 32


"Popper (Karl) - Worlds 1, 2 and 3"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    10. Interaction; The Worlds 1, 2 and 3 – 36
    11. The Reality of World 3 – 38
    12. Unembodied World 3 Objects – 41
    13. Grasping a World 3 Object – 43
    14. The Reality of Unembodied World 3 Objects – 46
    15. World 3 and the Mind-Body Problem – 47


"Popper (Karl) - Materialism Criticized"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    16. Four Materialist or Physicalist Positions– 51
    17. Materialism and the Autonomous World 3 – 56
    18. Radical Materialism or Radical Behaviourism – 60
    19. Panpsychism – 67
    20. Epiphenomenalism – 72
    21. A Revised Form of J. B. S. Haldane's Refutation of Materialism – 75
    22. The So-called Identity Theory – 81
    23. Does the Identity Theory Escape the Fate of Epiphenomenalism? – 86
    24. A Critical Note on Parallelism. The Identity Theory as a Form of Parallelism – 88
    25. Additional Remarks on Some Recent Materialist Theories – 93
    26. The New Promissory Materialism – 96
    27. Results and Conclusion – 98


"Popper (Karl) - Some Remarks on the Self"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    28. Introduction – 100
    29. Selves – 101
    30. The Ghost in the Machine – 104
    31. Learning to be a Self – 108
    32. Individuation1 – 112
    33. Self-Identity: The Self and Its Brain – 115
    34. The Biological Approach to Human Knowledge and Intelligence – 120
    35. Consciousness and Perception – 124
    36. The Biological Function of Conscious and Intelligent Activity – 125
    37. The Integrative Function of Consciousness – 127
    38. The Continuity of the Self – 129
    39. Learning from Experience: The Natural Selection of Theories – 132
    40. Criticism of the Theory of Unconditioned and Conditioned Reflexes – 135
    41. Kinds of Memory – 139
    42. The Self Anchored in World 3 – 144


"Popper (Karl) - Historical Comments on the Mind-Body Problem"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    43. The History of Our Picture of the Universe – 148
    44. A Problem to be Solved by What Follows – 151
    45. The Prehistoric Discovery of the Self and of World 2 – 153
    46. The Mind-Body Problem in Greek Philosophy – 159
    47. Conjectural versus Ultimate Explanation – 171
    48. Descartes: A Shift in the Mind-Body Problem – 176
    49. From Interactionism to Parallelism: The Occasionalists and Spinoza – 181
    50. Leibniz's Theory of Mind and Matter: From Parallelism to Identity – 184
    51. Newton, Boscovich, Maxwell: The End of Ultimate Explanation – 189
    52. The Association of Ideas as an Ultimate Explanation – 194
    53. Neutral Monism – 196
    54. The Identity Theory After Leibniz: From Kant to Feigl – 199
    55. Linguistic Parallelism – 202
    56. A Final Look at Materialism – 205


"Popper (Karl) - The Self and Its Brain Part 1: Summary"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Eccles (John) - The Cerebral Cortex"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    1. Resume – 227
    2. Anatomical Introduction – 229
    3. The Columnar Arrangement and the Modular Concept of the Cerebral Cortex – 235
    4. Modular Interaction – 240
    …4.1 Patterns of Module Action and Interaction – 242
    5. The Connectivities of Cortical Areas – 244
    6. Connectivities of the Limbic System – 247


"Eccles (John) - Conscious Perception"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    7. Resume – 250
    8. Introduction – 252
    9. Cutaneous Perception (Somaethesis) – 253
    … 9.1 Pathways to Primary Sensory Area in Cortex – 253
    … 9.2 Temporal Analysis of Cutaneous Perception – 256
    … 9.3 Secondary and Tertiary Sensory Areas – 259
    10. Visual Perception – 261
    …10.1 Retina to Primary Visual Area in Cortex – 261
    …10.2 Stages in Reconstitution of the Visual Image – 264
    …10.3 The Perceived Visual Image – 270
    11. Auditory Perception – 271
    12. Olfactory Perception – 272
    13. Emotional Colouring of Conscious Perceptions – 273
    14. Epilogue – 274


"Eccles (John) - Voluntary Movement"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    15. Resume – 275
    16. Introduction – 276
    17. The Motor Unit – 277
    18. The Motor Cortex – 280
    19. Voluntary Movement – 282
    20. The Cerebellar Controls of Voluntary Movement – 286
    … 20.1 The Closed Loop via the Pars Intermedia of the Cerebellum – 288
    … 20.2 The Open-Loop System via the Cerebellar Hemispheres – 289
    21. The Open-Loop Circuits via the Basal Ganglia – 290
    22. Synthesis of the Various Neuronal Mechanisms Concerned in the Control of Voluntary Movement – 290
    23. General Discussion – 293


"Eccles (John) - The Language Centres of the Human Brain"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    24. Resume – 295
    25. Introduction – 296
    26. Aphasia1 – 296
    27. Experiments on Exposed Brains – 300
    28. Intracarotid Injections of Sodium Amytal – 301
    29. The Dichotic Listening Test – 302
    30. The Self-Conscious Mind and Speech – 304
    31. Anatomical Substrates of Speech Mechanisms – 305
    32. The Acquisition of Language – 309


"Eccles (John) - Global Lesions of the Human Cerebrum"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    33. Resume – 311
    34. Introduction – 313
    35. Investigations on the Human Brain After Commissural Section - Commissurotomy1 – 313
    36. Discussion on Commissurotomy2 – 325
    37. Investigations on the Human Cerebrum3 after Gross Lesions and Hemispherectomy – 329
    38. Discussion on Hemispherectomy – 330
    39. Summary of Linguistic Abilities Disclosed by Global Lesions – 333


"Eccles (John) - Circumscribed Cerebral Lesions"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    40. Resume – 334
    41. Introduction – 336
    42. Temporal Lobe Lesions – 336
    43. Parietal Lobe Lesions – 341
    44. Occipital Lobe Lesions – 344
    45. Frontal Lobe Lesions – 345
    46. The Limbic System – 349
    47. The Dominant and Minor Hemispheres – 350


"Eccles (John) - The Self-Conscious Mind and the Brain"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    48. Resume – 355
    49. Introduction – 357
    50. Self-Conscious Mind and the Brain – 358
    51. Hypothesis of Interaction of Self-Conscious Mind and the Liaison Brain – 361
    52. The Hypothesis of Cortical Modules and the Self-Conscious Mind – 365
    53. Sleep1, Dreams and Various Forms of Unconsciousness – 370
    54. Plasticity of "Open" Modules – 373
    55. Summary – 373


"Eccles (John) - Conscious Memory: The Cerebral Processes Concerned in Storage and Retrieval"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


Contents
    56. Resume – 377
    57. Introduction – 379
    58. Structural and Functional Changes Possibly Related to Memory – 380
    59. The So-called Growth Theory of Learning – 385
    60. The Role of the Self-Conscious Mind in Short-Term Memory – 388
    61. The Role of the Hippocampus in Learning Memory – 390
    62. Hypothesis of Neuronal Happenings in Memory Storage – 394
    63. Memory Retrieval – 399
    64. Durations of Memories – 402
    65. Plastic Responses of Cerebral Cortex – 403
    66. Retrograde Amnesia – 405


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue I (What Does Knowledge Start From; The Brain and the Visual System; Activity in Learning)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue II (Animal Consciousness; Consciousness of Self; The Emergence of Consciousness)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue III (Cultural Evolution; Tools and Language; Evolution of Language; Poetry and Written Language; Self-awareness and Death-awareness)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue IV (Abstract Ideas and the Self; Models; Imagination and Theory Formation)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue V (Active Interaction; The Self-Conscious Mind; Visual Perception; The Two Hemispheres of the Brain)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue VI (Memory and Interaction; The Self and World 3; Sleep and Dreams)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue VII (Attention and Learning; Memory; Conditioned Reflex; The Self-Conscious Mind and the Liaison Brain"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue VIII (Parallelism; Illusion; Panpsychism; Self-Consciousness)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue IX (Illusion; Colour; Music; Experience of Time)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue X (Physical Gestalt; The Minor Hemisphere; Interaction and World 3; The Openness of World 1)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue XI (The Autonomy of World 3; Self-Awareness and Death-Awareness; Immortality; Personal Uniqueness)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


"Popper (Karl) & Eccles (John) - Dialogue XII (Limits of Explanation; The Openness of World 1)"

Source: Popper & Eccles - The Self and Its Brain


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