Sir John Carew Eccles était un neurophysiologiste australien. Ses travaux se sont concentrés sur la synapse, la jonction entre les neurones. Ces recherches lui ont valu un prix Nobel. Ses découvertes ont considérablement fait progresser notre compréhension du fonctionnement du cerveau.
The author presents a compelling collection of significant works alongside extensive commentary that connects his dualist perspective to the consciousness debate. With humor and vigor, he critiques contemporary materialist views while proposing a novel quantum process to explain mind-brain interaction through neurotransmitter release. John Eccles, a distinguished figure in neurophysiology, was knighted in 1958 and received the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology in 1963, highlighting his influential contributions to the field.
Exploring the intricate relationship between mind and body, the authors express skepticism about fully understanding the connection between brain structures and mental events. They acknowledge the modesty and conjectural nature of their work while emphasizing the value of human efforts to deepen self-understanding. Advocating for humanism, they challenge the prevailing intellectual trends that undermine scientific achievements and defend the significance of humanity's place in the universe, despite historical lessons from figures like Copernicus and Darwin.
The GIFFORD Lectures University of Edinburgh 1977–1978
255pages
9 heures de lecture
Under the terms of the endowment by Lord Gifford, the Gifford Lectures have been an annual event in the University of Edin burgh since 1887, and also in three other Scottish universities. According to the will of Lord Gifford they were set up " ... to promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of that term - in other words, the knowledge of God." The assignment is for ten lectures, and I delivered them from 20 February, to 13 March, 1978. I chose the theme of the Human Mystery because I believe that it is vitally important to emphasize the great mysteries that confront us when, as scientists, we try to understand the natural world including ourselves. There has been a regrettable tendency of many scientists to claim that science is so powerful and all pervasive that in the not too distant future it will provide an explantation in principle of all phenomena in the world of nature including man, even of human consciousness in all its manifesta tions. When that is accomplished scientific materialism will then be in the position of being an unchallengable dogma accounting for all experience."
