Synopses & Reviews
Stover and Erdmann deal with the crises confronting today's world and argue that solutions will come not from new technology nor in retreating to an idealized agrarian past, but by overhauling the beliefs that structure society. They link the dilemmas facing civilization to a fundamental rift running through society—one between religion and the humanities, rooted in subjective experience, and science, which emphasizes objective knowledge. They suggest a promising way of closing this rift found in the work of Nobel Laureate and neuroscientist Roger W. Sperry.
They examine Sperry's lifework, including his famous split- brain research and show how it led him to propose a theory of consciousness that challenged science's dismissal of subjective experience as irrelevant. By seeing consciousness as an emergent, causal property of brain function, Sperry reinstated subjective experience into the scientific worldview, laid the foundation for the cognitive revolution that has since swept through psychology, and created a means by which science can help create ethical systems better able to deal with today's challenges. Stover and Erdmann conclude by looking at ways in which others have built upon Sperry's ideas, and they hold out the hope that, with the creation of belief systems more compatible with science, a way out of humanity's current troubles may indeed be found. The result is an excursion through a world of exciting ideas, and a book sure to absorb anyone interested in the fate of our species—and how that fate might be influenced for the better. Students, researchers, scholars, and concerned citizens particularly interested in cognitive psychology, science and society, and futures studies will find the book intriguing.
Review
What an exciting and worthwhile book. The material is accessible, the ideas timely, the insights profound, and the vision inspiring. A must for all those concerned about the future.D. Paul Schafer World Culture Project
Review
This book can be a revolution. It might give us the key to our survival and even further unfoldment and fulfillment in the next millennium.Robert Muller, Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations
Synopsis
Argues that civilization-threatening crises can be solved only by adopting ethical systems more compatible with science.
Synopsis
Stover and Erdmann argue that the crises threatening civilization can be solved only by adopting ethical systems more compatible with science. They examine Nobel Laureate Roger W. Sperry's ideas about consciousness and ethics, which, by reconciling science and religion and reinstating subjective experience into scientific views of the world, promise precisely that.
Synopsis
Stover and Erdmann argue that the crises threatening civilization can be solved only by adopting ethical systems more compatible with science. They examine Nobel Laureate Roger W. Sperry's ideas about consciousness and ethics, which, by reconciling science and religion and reinstating subjective experience into scientific views of the world, promise precisely that.
About the Author
DAVID STOVER is a writer, editor, and reporter.ERIKA ERDMANN is an independent researcher and publisher of the journal Humankind Advancing.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: At the Crossroads
One World, Two Cultures
Steaming Toward the Apocalypse
The Great Divide
Brain, Mind, and Beliefs to Live By
Brain and Mind
The Emergent Ghost-Mysteries of Consciousness
In Search of a Science of Values
A Mind for Tomorrow
Stimulus and Response: Reaction to a New Worldview
Beyond Sperry
Appendix
Index