The Brain and the Meaning of Life

by Thagard, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780691142722
• ISBN10: 0691142726
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-02-14
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Why is life worth living? What makes actions right or wrong? What is reality and how do we know it?The Brain and the Meaning of Lifedraws on research in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to answer some of the most pressing questions about life's nature and value. Paul Thagard argues that evidence requires the abandonment of many traditional ideas about the soul, free will, and immortality, and shows how brain science matters for fundamental issues about reality, morality, and the meaning of life. The ongoing Brain Revolution reveals how love, work, and play provide good reasons for living.Defending the superiority of evidence-based reasoning over religious faith and philosophical thought experiments, Thagard argues that minds are brains and that reality is what science can discover. Brains come to know reality through a combination of perception and reasoning. Just as important, our brains evaluate aspects of reality through emotions that can produce both good and bad decisions. Our cognitive and emotional abilities allow us to understand reality, decide effectively, act morally, and pursue the vital needs of love, work, and play. Wisdom consists of knowing what matters, why it matters, and how to achieve it.The Brain and the Meaning of Lifeshows how brain science helps to answer questions about the nature of mind and reality, while alleviating anxiety about the difficulty of life in a vast universe. The book integrates decades of multidisciplinary research, but its clear explanations and humor make it accessible to the general reader.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
We All Need Wisdom	p. 1
Why Live?	p. 1
Sources of Wisdom	p. 3
Philosophical Approaches	p. 5
The Relevance of Minds and Brains	p. 6
Looking Ahead	p. 8
Conclusion	p. 12
Evidence Beats Faith	p. 13
Faith versus Evidence	p. 13
How Faith Works	p. 14
How Evidence Works	p. 20
Evidence and Inference in Science	p. 23
Medicine: Evidence or Faith?	p. 27
Evidence, Truth, and God	p. 32
A Priori Reasoning and Thought Experiments	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 40
Minds Are Brains	p. 42
The Brain Revolution	p. 42
Evidence That Minds Are Brains	p. 43
Evidence for Dualism?	p. 54
Objections to Mind-Brain Identity	p. 59
Who Are You?	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 64
How Brains Know Reality	p. 67
Reality and Its Discontents	p. 67
Knowing Objects	p. 69
Appearance and Reality	p. 72
Concepts	p. 76
Knowledge beyond Perception	p. 81
Coherence in the Brain	p. 85
Coherence and Truth	p. 90
Conclusion	p. 92
How Brains Feel Emotions	p. 94
Emotions Matter	p. 94
Valuations in the Brain	p. 95
Cognitive Appraisal versus Bodily Perception	p. 98
Synthesis; The EMOCON Model	p. 100
Emotional Consciousness	p. 105
Multilevel Explanations	p. 108
Rationality and Affective Afflictions	p. 111
Conclusion	p. 116
How Brains Decide	p. 119
Big Decisions	p. 119
Inference to the Best Plan	p. 121
Decisions in the Brain	p. 123
Changing Goals	p. 126
How to Make Bad Decisions	p. 133
Living without Free Will	p. 137
Conclusion	p. 140
Why Life Is Worth Living	p. 142
The Meaning of Life	p. 142
Nihilism	p. 143
Happiness	p. 146
Goals and Meaning	p. 149
Love	p. 152
Work	p. 158
Play	p. 161
Conclusion	p. 165
Needs and Hopes	p. 168
Wants versus Needs	p. 168
Vital Needs	p. 169
How Love, Work, and Play Satisfy Needs	p. 171
Balance, Coherence, and Change	p. 176
Hope versus Despair	p. 177
Conclusion	p. 182
Ethical Brains	p. 183
Ethical Decisions	p. 183
Conscience and Moral Intuitions	p. 184
Mirror Neurons	p. 188
Empathy	p. 190
Moral Motivation	p. 192
Ethical Theory	p. 195
Moral Objectivity	p. 201
Responsibility	p. 204
Conclusion	p. 206
Making Sense of It All	p. 209
Connections Made	p. 209
Wisdom Gained	p. 213
What Kind of Government Should Countries Have?	p. 215
How Can Creative Change Be Produced?	p. 217
What Is Mathematical Knowledge?	p. 221
Why Is There Something and Not Nothing?	p. 224
The Future of Wisdom	p. 226
Notes	p. 231
Glossary	p. 251
References	p. 255
Index	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.