Power Hour Reading

3/31/16

Power Hour Reading

1. Title of book: Hardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience Reveals about Morality
2. Chapter titles: Neuroscience and Morality, Morality and the Mind, Beyond the Mind Zone
3. Summary: Our brains function in miraculous ways that cause us to act unseen ways, which the author Laurence Tancredi explores in the terms of morality. He first starts off by trying to define morality as it is present in our culture; his viewpoint is that the easiest example to see is religion. He discusses how each religion produce a set of rule which people should live by, an example would be the Seven Deadly Sin in Christianity, which is still present in our society today. Tancredi, however, argues that three of these sins, gluttony, sloth, and lust, can actually be accredited to the function (or dysfunction) of the brain as certain chemicals are released that can classify these sins as addictions rather than simple wrongdoings.
   Tancredi later goes to talk about the mind (which is not the same as the brain-- the brain is the actual, physical organ) and morality. Those who have taken AP Lang will recognize some of the philosophers mentioned in this section of the book. Tancredi pulls ideas from Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Jean-Paul Satre, B.F. Skinner, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Adam Smith, Socrates, and Aristotle. He also recalls an episode he had with a patient of his (he was also a psychiatrist) who held no qualms about cheating on his wife and abusing drugs. Instead the man only wanted Tancredi to keep his secret, but the scariest part was that the patient felt no remorse for the pain he was causing to those around him. To this, Tancredi questions whether this was an example of too much "free will". Moving away from this idea, Tancredi starts to mention how we develop our morality from childhood to adulthood. Referencing Freud, Tancredi pulls the idea of the ID, Ego, and Superego and the fact that the ID  is innate while our morality is not, as it is part of the Superego and developed by the environment around us. He also looks at another study of research that believed morality was gained in steps and that each step built off the last from childhood all the way to a functioning adult.
   In the third chapter, Tancredi moves more into the actual function of the brain by exploring how we act and how our brain responds to these actions. He mentions current sensory data and stored representation and how these are key motivators of action according to Libet, Platt, and Glimcher. Following this he looks into how damage to certain parts of the brain bring about different character traits such as those with Williams disease.
   Thesis: Our brain is not only a physical unit that causes responses in the body but in fact makes up our entire morality from our emotions and actions to our mind and being.
4. Tancredi's novel is more theoretical than practical since he argues his view on philosophy and uses facts about the brain to support them. Although this book is not research, it can still impact those who read it by giving them a different perspective how they themselves act and alter their views on morality based on Tancredi's own philosophy. The novel itself is credible as the research is thorough and the idea of the philosophers are correctly conveyed. The only downside is that he failed to give his opinion on the ideas of the philosophers, which is a shame since they all have very profound, intriguing theories. I do agree with the philosophers he did choose to incorporate as they are essential to this topic; however, I dislike some of the theories (such as Satre's existentialism and Saint Thomas Aquinas) they presented, which detracted from Tancredi's research for me personally. However, I did enjoy the excerpt that I read and would love to ask why Tancredi chose the philosophers that he did and what he himself thinks of their theories.