Disentangling science ...

... from scientism: The Limits of Neuro-Talk. (Hat tip, Joseph Chovanes.)

A danger inherent in the localization thesis may be illuminated by analogy to an internal combustion engine. In describing an engine, one might be tempted to say, “the opening of the intake valve is caused by the movement of the rocker arm.” Except that the rocker is, in turn, set in motion by the camshaft, the camshaft by the crankshaft, the crank by a connecting rod, the rod by the piston. But of course, the piston won’t move unless the intake valve opens to let the air-fuel mixture in. This logic is finally circular because, really, it is the entire mechanism that “causes” the opening of the intake valve; any less holistic view truncates the causal picture and issues in statements that are, at best, partially true. Given that the human brain is more complexly interconnected than a motor by untold orders of magnitude, it is a dubious undertaking to say that any localized organic structure is the sufficient cause and exclusive locus of something like “reason” or “emotion.”