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The American Journal of Bioethics 2.4 (2002) 69-70



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Jean-Pierre Changeux and Paul Ricoeur. 2000. What Makes Us Think? A Neuroscientist and Philosopher Argue about Ethics, Human Nature, and the Brain, trans. M. B. DeBevoise. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Hardcover $49.95

This is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read in a long while. What Makes Us Think? certainly makes the reader think deeply about a broad array of fundamental philosophical issues concerning the nature of the human experience that are currently being challenged and reshaped by knowledge emerging from the findings of neuroscience research. In the tradition of the earlier dialogues of Karl Popper and John Eccles in The Self and Its Brain (1978), the eminent neuroscientist and author of Neuronal Man, Jean-Pierre Changeux, and the similarly distinguished hermeneutic philosopher and author of Time and Narrative, Paul Ricoeur (1984-1988), provide a richly woven dialogue on far-reaching issues ranging from the mind/body question, to the origins and ends of memory and consciousness, the origins of morality, and religious and cultural conflict.

This book, translated from the original French by M.B. DeBevoise, is well-edited and makes good use of illustrations and examples to clarify these complex issues. It is densely argued and written but most readable. It represents an outstanding mix of scientific, historical, and philosophical discussion. The two erudite scholars demonstrate an incredible range of knowledge of history, culture, and science and make extensive reference to scholarship from a wide range of disciplines. The result is a form of most impressive scholarship of a near Socratic style that is rare these days.

In addition to being a stimulating read, this volume is important because it comes as philosophical foundations are being shaken by the revolution in the brain sciences. The new age of neuroscience brings with it rapid advances in the identification of complex anatomical connections in the neural system and expanded understanding of the chemical, molecular, and genetic mechanisms that control brain structure and function. Moreover, new brain imaging techniques offer the capacity to measure and visualize human brain function during mental activity and correlate it with behavior, thus promising increasingly precise and effective means to predict, modify, and control behavior and provide new treatments for neural diseases and disorders. Cumulatively, these developments necessitate a reevaluation of our views on the nature of being human.

Despite the rapid expansion of the understanding of brain structure and function in recent years, however, we are still in our infancy in terms of developing a unifying theory of how it operates. As a result, considerable controversy surrounds neuroscience in at least five broad areas: the mind/brain distinction; the organization of the brain; the impact of genetics on the brain; the origins of consciousness; and the role of the brain in determining human behavior. The issue concerning the brain's impact on behavior also has clear implications for how we view free will, ethical systems, and individual responsibility and thus has wide public policy implications as well (see Blank 1999).

Current arguments over how the brain operates and how it relates to the mind and to consciousness are not of recent origin. The authors systematically trace these controversies throughout the history of western philosophy and evolutionary theory. Changeux provides the scientific foundations and suggests where they might be leading us. As in his earlier book Neuronal Man, Changeux is on the cutting edge on the theory of the brain. Ricoeur, in turn, is highly sceptical of the promises of neuroscience and rightly targets the highly speculative nature of many of Changeux's arguments, always questioning the assumptions and linkages made by Changeux. Neither shrink from criticising other scholars with whom they disagree.

I found the first six chapters illuminating and at times provocative as the authors proceed from a discussion of the brain and self-knowledge to consciousness and the evolutionary origins of morality, rules of conduct, and ethical systems. In chapters 2 and 3 Changeux's presentation of...

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