The Next Science To Come Under Attack?

We are well aware of the attacks on evolutionary biology from the religious right. Their attacks on science which contradicts fundamentalist religious beliefs also extends towards other fields. This includes attacking cosmology when it discusses the origins of the universe and geology when it contradicts their views on the age of the earth. Via Andrew Sullivan and Mind Hacks, there is another area where science might come under attack–neuroscience. Sullivan quotes from this letter on Neurosience and the Soul appearing in Science:

Most religions endorse the idea of a soul (or spirit) that is distinct from the physical body. Yet as neuroscience advances, it increasingly seems that all aspects of a person can be explained by the functioning of a material system…as neuroscience begins to reveal the mechanisms underlying personality, love, morality, and spirituality, the idea of a ghost in the machine becomes strained.

Brain imaging indicates that all of these traits have physical correlates in brain function. Furthermore, pharmacologic influences on these traits, as well as the effects of localized stimulation or damage, demonstrate that the brain processes in question are not mere correlates but are the physical bases of these central aspects of our personhood. If these aspects of the person are all features of the machine, why have a ghost at all?

By raising questions like this, it seems likely that neuroscience will pose a far more fundamental challenge than evolutionary biology to many religions. Predictably, then, some theologians and even neuroscientists are resisting the implications of modern cognitive and affective neuroscience.

Leave a comment