- 1. World I Prof. Francisco De Paula Module II The Brain, Origin
and Evolution of the Human Mind.
2. II. The Brain, Origin and Evolutionof the Human Mind. Today,
we must incorporate biology to our theories on knowledge and
language. In order to do so, we must develop what I have called
biological epistemology. Then, in the light of evolution, we will
learn how it is we know and are conscious. Gerald M. Edelman
Neuroscientist 3. Modern Neuroscience
- Modern neuroscience is concerned with two main issues:
-
- Validity of the cognitive limitations as a characteristic of
themind that studies the mind.
-
- 2. Given the complexity of its structure and physiology, and
since the brain is more complex than intelligent; it may not have
the ontological possibility to understand itself.
-
- The emergence of this faculty can be explained within the
formal framework that biology offers as a basis for studying mans
mental processes, by which we perceive, associate, learn, remember
and, miraculously, achieveawareness of ourselves .
4. Knowledge
- Ourbrainis precisely the part which constitutes the ultimate
boundary of our knowledge.
- The development of thisself-knowledgemakes possible to
identify:
-
- the foundations of the nature of our behavior
-
- the phenomenon surrounding the chemical and electrical
activities of our central nervous system,
-
- mentalrepresentation of reality
-
- memorized and intelligent association
- This associational capacity could be regarded as the source of
evolution of mansself-consciousness (self-knowledge).
5. Brain & Self-consciousness
- The actual state of thebrainis the result of millions of years
of evolution in genetics, morphology and competitive interaction
and dialectic in the pressure of natural selection environment in
their development.
- It integrates more than one hundred billionneurons (nerve
cells)in its complex network architecture.
- From mans intelligence arises creativity, emotions, memory and,
finally, hisself-consciousness
6. The Brain
- The brain has a bilateral symmetry :itsleft and right
hemispheres are united and connected by acallous substanceand
itsbase , which is constituted mainly by themedullaand
thecerebellum.
- Neuroscientists specialized inneurolocalizationhave determined
the placement of brains attributes and functions within the brains
anatomical map, leaving a good part of its unexplained physiology
to the field of scientific conjectures.
7. The Brain
- Inside the brain,the limbic system extends into various
heterogeneous structures which take part in the formative process
and coordination of the higher functions of living beings, such as
emotional and sexual behavior and memory.
- The upper part of the brain houses the cerebral hemispheres.
They are enveloped by the cerebral cortex which, if extended, has
an area approximately of 1.5 meters and is 2 millimeters
thick.
8. The Brain
- The hemispheres are divided into sections calledlobes . They
are delimited by natural fissures according to their Cartesian
regions:frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital.
- From a physiological viewpoint, and in relation to their
localized functions,each area of the brains lobes is differentiated
by a sensorial, motor and associational function, also known
asmotor, somatosensory and visual cortex . However, the disperse
associational function remains topologically less defined.
Thecerebral hemispheresand the cortex are considered the most
recently existing and evolved parts of the brain. 9.
- Paul McLean: Theory of the Cerebral Trilogy ( Triune Brain
)
- Reptile brain :is responsible for the irrational and
instinctive behavior in human beings.
In 1970, he established that the brain of theHomo
sapiensdeveloped in three identifiable stages of archeological
evolution,that is:Main Theories 10.
- The limbic system or middle brain: (includes the hippocampus,
the thalamus and the amygdalae): is responsible for an incipient
production, although, still automatic, of the emotions and the
memory, predominating in the most evolved species of
paleomammiferous.
Theory of the Cerebral Trilogy
- The cerebral cortex :marks the earliest stage in the brains
phylogenetic evolution, it gave man the associational faculty of
abstraction, imagination, and the ability to anticipate the events
concerning his existence.
11.
- Gerald Edelman:Neodarwinian Theory.
- Explains how mans consciousness of having self-reflecting
thought, emerged as a result of the Darwinevolution of the neuronic
groupsof cells interacting with genetics, morphology and
experience.
- At the end of this long evolutionary road, abstraction,
imagination, and the ability to anticipate the events concerning
his existence have been essential inthe emergence of human
self-consciousnessin its different evolutionary
manifestations.
Main Theories 12.
- Edelman defines two systems which are also evolutionary
stages:
- Stage 1. Limbic stem:Founded upon the special relationship that
exists between the network of functions of the anatomical units of
the brain stem and the limbic system.
- Stage 2. Cortical-Thalamus:Founded upon the relationship
between the thalamus and the cerebral cortex.
- Heestablished these two stages and systems as two independent
nervous systems.
- During its lengthy development, the first system, the
limbic-stem, became specialized in controlling the organisms
autonomous (independent) behavior, enabling the regulation of the
heart, the endocrine system and the digestive functions, among
others.
Neodarwinian Theory. 13.
- According to Edelman and recently many other neuroscientists,
during its last evolutionary stage, the second system,
thecortical-thalamus,developed the cerebral cortex.
- These two systems signified an unprecedented leap in the
history of evolution, especially regarding thecerebral cortexwhere
higher mental activity takes place.
Gerald Edelman:Neodarwinian Theory.
- Surprisingly, this gave way to the development of the most
complex neuronic equipment imaginable.
14. Acquisition of Knowledge
- Hence, we find the recurring epistemological idea of
attributing mantwo fundamental ways in which he acquired
knowledge:
-
- One springs fromsensitive experience , which is limited by
theperceptual capacity of the senses : vision, hearing, touch,
smell and taste, and
-
- The other originates in the mental and rational process of mans
advancedneourophysiology.
15. Others Theories about the acquisition of Knowledge:
- Plato and Aristotleproposed their principle of divided
epistemology: Sensibilia and Inteligiblia - of thesensesand of
theintellect-which means there is aprevious and posterior to
knowledge.
- Descartes , based on his dualistic vision of man regarding the
development of knowledge, also defined two states in the
evolution:a priori anda posteriori .
- Kant evidenced the differentiation between pure and empirical
knowledge by dividing the study of knowledge into the criticism
ofpure reasonandpractical reason.
- Locke established that the fundamental sources of knowledge are
those emanating fromcontemplationand theintellectualizationof
experience.
16. Dualistic Evolution of Thought
- Following an identifiable and similar topic and line of
reflections, all of these philosophers set forth, at different
times, and with different tools, the general idea of thedualistic
evolution of thought.
17. Mans Self-consciousness
- Considering these important stages in the evolution of the
human brain, Edelman reflects: what led to the appearance of mans
self-consciousness? Why has man revealed himself, and continues to
do so, as an heterogeneous and asymmetric being who consents
tosequels of inequalitywhich constitutethe stigma of his universal
culture?
- The answer, according to Edelman, has to be referred to the
interrelated phenomenon of genetics, morphology and experience as
part ofthe integrated process of evolution.
18.
- In hisTheory of Evolution , Darwin established the idea that,
in the evolutionary process of their intelligence, human beings are
subject to the same laws that have governed all living species
during their development.
- Evolutionis a result of competition and environmental demands
given the heterogeneous capabilities of living creatures.
- Morphology gives a man competitive advantage to meet the
unpredictable challenges of environmental requirements in nature
and, at the same time, resulting in anatomical equipment deemed
necessary to preserve the hostility of their habitat.
Genetics, Morphology and Experience: the Architects of Evolution
19. Darwin &the Functional Level
- It is thestructural and functional abilitiesof living things
what ultimately makes evolution possible.
- It is indispensable to determine the role that genetics have
played in the merely informative process of evolution, as well as
the role of morphology and experience, which in their dispute and
configuration have caused the great evolutionary change in
species.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v4/i1/cranial.asp 20.
Evolution
- Inthe case of man , his cranial capacity, the space in the
temporal plane ofthecerebral cortex and, in a especiallyoutstanding
manner , thesupralaryngeal , gave him, in the last moment of his
development, the final impulse that would allow the definitive
conformation of the attributes and abilities of his intelligent
conduct.
- Recent discoveries reveal that the factor of morphology is the
determining ingredient in the development of the evolution of human
conduct.
21. The Case of Man
- As he found himself weak before the evolution of his
morphology, genetic heredity and abilities to compete efficiently
in the arena of natural selection in order to survive, man found it
necessary and possible torepresent the worldof his experience in
his mind in a symbolic manner.
- Man constructed and memorized conceptual images from his
observation of the world. Subsequently, in trying to verbalize and
associate them, these images determined the logic and syntactic
order of hismental organization , and therefore of his
thought.
22. Language, a Prelude to our Self-discovery
- Like self-consciousness and the consciousness of being
self-conscious,languageis also a unique and exclusive attribute of
man.
- From the self-consciousness, we know how evolution equipped the
cerebral cortex with an area specialized in language and
comprehension.
- These areas, called Broca and Wernickes Areas, inremembrance of
its discoverers, are related fundamentally tomemory .
- The coordination of their functions enables the formulating and
interpretative functions of language, as well as its synthesis and
its subsequent evolution.
23.
- In the history of language, thesymbolwas created first as a
means of representing reality, and later, asthe symbol of a symbol
, which was expressed by a name in an infinite succession of
semantic representations.
- Reasoning evolved exponentially due to its capacity
forrepresentationsymbolic and conceptual- of reality, without
limit, in the increasingly large and synthetic construction of
knowledge.
- Mans internal viewpoint of his complex evolution can only be
explained within the scope of theexternal social consequencesof his
recently acquired property of language.
Language Prof. Francisco De Paula 24. Robert Ornstein: Mans
Future Evolution
- Mans future evolution will occur through the development of his
intelligence from the emerging evolutionary attribute of aconscious
selection as a substitute to natural selection.
- To decipher the genetic map of our biological structure will
permit the prerogative of modifying it, intentionally substituting
the natural task of evolution regarding our configuration.
- This knowledge will liberate us, for the first time in history,
from the constraint which the information contained in our
inescapable genetic code signifies.
25. Mans Future Evolution
- Our old civilization and its dangerous structures must
betranscendedonly by consciously knowing our origin, which will
lead to the creation of a new human order.
- Will permit the task from the standpoint of ourselfcriticism -
of objectively revising the recurring conduct of our cultures
insecurity.