What Makes Us Think?: A Neuroscientist and a Philosopher Argue about Ethics, Human Nature, and the Brain

Translator's Note vi Prelude ix Chapter 1: A Necessary Encounter Knowledge and Wisdom 3 Knowledge of the Brain and Self-Knowledge 10 The Biological and the Normative 26 Chapter 2: Body and Mind: In Search of a Common Discourse 33 The Cartesian Ambiguity 33 The Contribution of the Neurosciences 41 Toward a Third Kind of Discourse? 63 Chapter 3: The Neuronal Model and the Test of Experience 70 The Simple and the Complex: Questions of Method 70 The Human Brain: Complexity, Hierarchy, Spontaneity 75 Mental Objects: Chimera or Link? 93 Is a Neuronal Theory of Knowledge Possible? 110 Understanding Better by Explaining More 125 Chapter 4: Consciousness of Oneself and of Others 134 Conscious Space 134 The Question of Memory 138 Comprehension of Oneself and of Others 154 Mind or Matter? 169 Chapter 5: The Origins of Morality 179 Darwinian Evolution and Moral Norms 179 The First Structures of Morality 195 From Biological History to Cultural History: Valuing the Individual 202 Chapter 6: Desire and Norms 212 Natural Dispositions to Ethical Systems 212 The Biological Bases of Rules of Conduct 222 Passage to the Norm 239 Chapter 7: Ethical Universality and Cultural Conflict 257 The Natural Foundations of an Ethics of Debate 257 Religion and Violence 259 Paths of Tolerance 272 The Scandal of Evil 279 Toward an Ethics of Deliberation: The Example of Advisory Committees on Bioethics 298 Art as Peacemaker 303 Fugue 311 Notes 313 Index 327

Jean-Pierre Changeux, Professor of Neurobiology at the College de France, is the author of Neuronal Man and, with Alain Connes, Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics (both Princeton). Paul Ricoeur is a hermeneutic philosopher and the author of many books, including Time and Narrative.

"The two thinkers lock horns about the grandest of issues: the nature of mind, brain, religion, art, morality, and consciousness... The broad terms of the debate and the erudition of the debaters provide considerable insight into how certain neuroscientists and philosophers attack enigmas that first occupied the ancient Greeks."--Howard Gardner, Chronicle of Higher Education "The mind-body problem, the origins and the ends of thought, the frontiers of brain research and the vexed relations among social norms, ethics and biological facts: all come under complicated scrutiny in this very informative volume..."--Publishers Weekly "Intoxicatingly dense and provocative."--Virginia Quarterly Review "These two amazing minds at work make for a fascinating look at the who, what, and how of thought."--Booklist "Two leading giants face off: the biologist Jean-Pierre Changeux, leading neuroscientist and author of Neuronal Man, and the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, eminent apostle of phenomenology and author of Living Metaphors. The two ... Develop ... a true exchange of ideas, breaking with the preemptory affirmations and unilateral critiques which have too often characterized relations between science and philosophy."--G?rard Badu, Le Nouvel Observateur "The materialist neurobiologist and the philosopher establish a no-holds-barred dialogue, which has resulted in a captivating book: often demanding, but always free of jargon. This exceptional initiative should be a milestone in the history of ideas."--Jean-Claude Escaffit, La Vie "A rich dialogue, insofar as the two men belong to divergent currents of thought ... neither a sham exchange of blows nor an intellectual compromise on either side... This exchange constitutes the most successful exercise of its type ... it throws the perspectives right open."--Yves Christen, Nouveaut? "The French literati love bringing two leading figures from what would appear to be disparate fields together and jointly publishing essays on a chosen