Good scepticism

"It is language and culture that turns brain into mind."

Kenan Malik in his excellent book
"Man, Beast, and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us about Human Nature" (2002).

I think this excellent book shows a good scepticism about the claims of neuroscience.

Rightly held up to ridicule

"...Anthony C. Grayling, M.A.,  D.Phil (Oxon), asserts that "mental phenomena are causally determined, which means that we have no free will." "

"Another eminent neuroscientist, Dr. Susan Greenfield, states that "neuroscience can explain everything about ourselves ..... Religious experiences are due to temporal lobe stimulation. Our brain tells us what to do, not the other way round. What we see isn't really there at all." "

From Thomas Szasz's "The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality and Neuroscience", 1996, 2002.

Hopefully, these two quotes seem ridiculous.
They are just two examples of the folly that the contemporary belief in "neuroscience" can lead to. This belief is not really based on any substantial new discoveries.

"The Science of Copper Wire".

Neuroscience =

"The Science of Copper Wire".

------------------

What is neuroscience about? Presumably it is about nerves. What are nerves? Not much more than copper wire. Devices for transmitting messages. Nothing more than copper wire.

See my point?
Understand my exasperation?

My exasperation at the nonsense of neuroscience is very instinctive.

In this blog I will try and put it into words.

"The Meaning of Mind" by Thomas Szasz.

I wrote most of this blog about three years ago now in 2013 and I am surprisingly quite happy with it and glad it is here.

I am now reading "The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality and Neuroscience" by the great Thomas Szasz to further educate myself about the annoying contemporary entity "neuroscience".

I will write more when I have read it!

I will confess that I once had a date with a neuroscientist and I found it quite amusing that she said she had a "gut" feeling about me that she "had to trust". Surely she should have trusted her nerves being a neuroscientist! lol!

I have a "gut feeling" about neuroscience that there is something not quite right about it!

Whilst my view has become more moderated and qualified since 2013, I will leave the blog up as a justified reaction to the modern vogue for neuroscience.

Clueless about "Alzheimer's Disease"!

I am watching a news report about people examining brains to find a CURE for "Alzheimer's Disease" - rather than to actually FIND "Alzheimer's Disease." W.T.F.???

[What is the difference between "Dementia" and "Alzheimer's" ?????
Is it a posh euphemism for a deteriorating lifestyle??.......
Where the feck is the (biological) illness??.......]

...........................

The above just find this very hard to believe. Tests my faith in the human intellect.

-------------------------------------------------

A DISEASE = A DISEASE = A DISEASE =
"a demonstrable defined biological process, lesion, infection etc."

"SYMPTOMS"                    DO NOT=/ A DIAGNONSENSE......
"SYMPTOMS"                    DO NOT=/ A DISEASE........
"TREATMENT"                  DOES NOT =/ A DISEASE.....

Who was Alzheimer?
And where the feck did he leave his disease??? - coz no fecker can find it!!!.....

The Original Title of the Blog!

The original title of this blog was - "Nerve Science Is Nonsense."

Perhaps many people would say that I should have stuck with that! :)

If I say "X,Y,Z is NONSENSE!" then it may be true or partly true.
But my purpose in affirming that may be to try and get others to EXAMINE whether
the view ("x,y,z is nonsense") is correct or not!

RHETORIC is about HOW TO PERSUADE!
Science IDEALLY should be free of rhetoric!

The current title is maybe more RHETORICAL, DIPLOMATIC and CONCILIATORY and hence will persuade people to do what is important.

ID EST - CONSIDER FOR THEMSELVES (in the light of anything this blog may add)
if, how and why "Nerve Science" MAY be nonsense!......

"The important thing is not to stop questioning,"
Albert Einstein.

"The important thing is not to stop questioning EVEN WHAT YOU THINK YOU ALREADY KNOW!"

- is an addition that would perhaps be made by the sceptic filosofer,
Francisco Sanches (1560-1623),
author of
"Quod nihil scitur" (On How Nothing Is Known), 1581.

Never Mind the annoyance of Nerve Science - how about the shame of Nerve Ethics?

Never Mind the annoyance of Nerve Science - how about the shame of Nerve Ethics?

Neuroethics - the mere word provokes in me deep moral anxiety.

:)