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The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World

Authors: Iain McGilchrist, Iain McGilchrist

Overview

This book presents a new vision of reality based on the latest findings of neuroscience, physics, and philosophy, arguing that our current world view is dominated by a left hemisphere mode of thought that has led to a distorted and destructive relationship with ourselves and the world. I show that the left hemisphere excels at manipulating the world by analyzing it into parts, while the right hemisphere excels at understanding the world by comprehending its holistic nature. The left hemisphere’s dominance has led to an overemphasis on control, efficiency, and the material at the expense of empathy, meaning, and the sacred. This imbalance, I argue, is at the root of many of the crises we face today, from environmental destruction to social fragmentation to the loss of meaning in life. I present a different approach to reality, one that recognizes the limitations of a purely analytical, mechanistic view and embraces the insights of the right hemisphere. This approach sees the world as a dynamic, interconnected process, where meaning and purpose are not imposed but emerge from our engagement with the world. It is a vision that is more attuned to the findings of modern physics, to the wisdom of ancient traditions, and to our own lived experience. I am writing for those who are looking for a deeper understanding of the world and their place in it: a world in which we can live more harmoniously and meaningfully, and for those willing to question the prevailing cultural assumptions, to consider a different perspective, and to explore the profound implications of this new understanding for the future of humanity. My aim is to shake the reader out of a world-view we have come to take for granted, one in which we are encouraged to deny or dismiss much that is in truth central to our existence, and, above all, to recover that sense of wonder and awe which has been lost in our disenchanted age.

Book Outline

1. Some Preliminaries: How We Got Here

Our brains are divided into two hemispheres with distinct ways of understanding the world. The left hemisphere excels at simplifying and manipulating the world, while the right hemisphere focuses on comprehending the world’s complexity. The dominance of the left hemisphere’s approach has led to an overemphasis on manipulation at the expense of true understanding.

Key concept: Our brains, importantly, are divided into two hemispheres: the left hemisphere is designed to help us ap-prehend - and thus manipulate - the world; the right hemisphere to com-prehend it - see it all for what it is. The problem is that the very brain mechanisms which succeed in simplifying the world so as to subject it to our control militate against a true understanding of it. Meanwhile, compounding the problem, we take the success we have in manipulating it as proof that we understand it.

2. Attention

Attention is not merely a passive process but an active force that shapes our perception of reality. The type of attention we pay to the world influences what we find there, which in turn shapes our future attention.

Key concept: Attention changes the world. How you attend to it changes what it is you find there. What you find then governs the kind of attention you will think it appropriate to pay in the future.

3. Perception

Perception, distinct from attention and thinking, is our direct engagement with the world through our senses. The right hemisphere excels at this holistic engagement, while the left hemisphere focuses on fragmented, abstract representations.

Key concept: Perception is not the same as attention, and not at all the same as thinking… Perception is the act whereby we reach out from our cage of mental constructs to taste, smell, touch, hear and see the living world.

4. Judgment

Judgment involves discerning truth. The right hemisphere is crucial for evaluating beliefs and making judgments, especially in complex, uncertain situations. It is more attuned to reality and less prone to bias than the left hemisphere, but it can also engage in logical reasoning when required.

Key concept: Not only is it the right hemisphere that helps us to get beyond our familiar simulacrum of the world, with its self-reinforcing tendency - what I have dubbed the hall of mirrors - to a more authentic, ‘in touch’, actuality. But it is also not that the right hemisphere just sides always with experience. It only does so when it thinks on balance that this gives an answer truer to the questioner’s intention. If specifically instructed to ignore the real world, and go with the logic, the right hemisphere is actually better able to do so than the left hemisphere.

5. Apprehension

The left hemisphere is specialized for manipulating the world, primarily through language and the right hand. Damage to this hemisphere typically results in impairments to these functions. Although adept at manipulating data, the left hemisphere struggles to understand its real-world significance.

Key concept: In left hemisphere damage, the two most serious consequences are motor impairments, particularly of the right arm and hand; and language impairments… The left hemisphere’s strength in humans, because of the development of the frontal lobes, has become this: given data, it can manipulate it in certain ways highly efficiently. But it isn’t good, any longer, at understanding what the data mean in real-world terms.

6. Emotional and Social Intelligence

The right hemisphere is essential for emotional and social intelligence, including empathy, understanding others’ perspectives (theory of mind), and interpreting social cues. The left hemisphere, while involved in emotion, may be more prone to deception and social manipulation.

Key concept: In short, our left hemisphere - the one that typically speaks to others - may be more adept at lying and constructing a social masquerade …

7. Cognitive Intelligence

Contrary to popular belief, intelligence is not solely a left hemisphere function. The right hemisphere plays a significant role in cognitive intelligence, particularly in fluid intelligence (Gf), which involves problem-solving and adapting to new situations.

Key concept: … in factor analytic studies, the best tests of g involve fluid intelligence or novel problem solving.

8. Creativity

Creativity involves forging new connections, a process that is largely driven by the right hemisphere. This hemisphere’s ability to see beyond the obvious, to embrace uncertainty and to make intuitive leaps is essential for generating novel ideas.

Key concept: The creative mind is a mind that looks for unexpected likenesses… Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring. It must, for any cross-connection that does not require daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a ‘new idea’, but as a mere ‘corollary of an old idea’. It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable.

9. What Schizophrenia and Autism Can Tell Us

Examining mental illnesses like schizophrenia and autism provides insights into the left hemisphere’s world. These conditions often exhibit characteristics of right hemisphere dysfunction, such as difficulties with social interaction, understanding context, and perceiving wholes. This suggests that a left hemisphere-dominant world view can lead to a fragmented and distorted perception of reality.

Key concept: Schizophrenia, a condition which mimics right hemisphere damage in many respects, is characterised by what are known as ‘passivity phenomena’: the sense that thoughts, actions, feelings and even moods, that come from the unconscious mind, or at least from the periphery of consciousness, are caused by someone else. They have not been integrated into the self: for that to happen a properly functioning right hemisphere would be required. They become instead a trigger for paranoia: who are these mysterious malefactors?

10. What is Truth?

The very nature of truth is a matter of perspective. The left hemisphere tends to see truth as a static, objective entity that can be definitively known, while the right hemisphere sees truth as a dynamic, relational process that unfolds through experience.

Key concept: Truth is a noun only to God; to men, truth is really best known as an adverb, ‘truly’.

11. Science’s Claims on Truth

Science is a valuable tool for understanding the world, but it is not the only path to truth. Its claims on truth are limited by its reliance on models, its tendency to ignore what cannot be measured, and the influence of institutional factors on scientific practice.

Key concept: Science, truly to be such, must centre not on descriptions and names but on principles – that is, generalizations, theories, relationships, interconnections, explanations about and among the facts.

12. The Science of Life: A Study in Left Hemisphere Capture

The left hemisphere’s dominance has led to an overemphasis on mechanistic explanations in biology. However, organisms are not machines but dynamic, self-organizing systems characterized by flow, change, and purpose. The machine model fails to capture the essence of life and can have harmful consequences for our understanding of ourselves and the natural world.

Key concept: Life is possible only in a nonequilibrium universe. Nonequilibrium leads to concepts such as self-organisation and dissipative structures …

13. Institutional Science and Truth

The institution of science, while essential for advancing knowledge, can also hinder the pursuit of truth through excessive specialization, publication pressures, and the limitations of peer review. We must be wary of the ‘science industry’ and its potential to stifle originality and reinforce dogma.

Key concept: Science has always suffered from the vice of overstatement. In this way conclusions true within strict limitations have been generalized dogmatically into a fallacious universality.

14. Reason’s Claims on Truth

Reason, like truth, has multiple meanings. While the left hemisphere excels at a narrow, procedural form of rationality, the right hemisphere is crucial for a broader, more holistic form of reason that incorporates intuition, emotion, and a sense of the whole. We need both, but the right hemisphere’s understanding should guide the left.

Key concept: It is not merely that in the earlier times the men knew less. They were intrinsically less able in moving about among general ideas. They failed to discriminate between minor peculiarities of details and the major notions. The power of going for the penetrating idea, even if it has not yet been worked into any methodology, is what constitutes the progressive force of Reason.

15. Reason’s Progeny

Reason has given rise to a number of conceptual tools, such as abstraction, precision, and linearity. While these tools can be useful, their overemphasis can lead to a distorted and impoverished understanding of reality. We must balance them with the right hemisphere’s appreciation for embodiment, the intrinsically imprecise, and the Gestalt.

Key concept: The higher animals are distinguished from mere life, by their abstractions, and by their use of them. Mankind is distinguished from animal life by its emphasis on abstractions. The degeneracy of mankind is distinguished from its uprise by the dominance of chill abstractions, divorced from aesthetic content.

16. Logical Paradox: A Further Study in Left Hemisphere Capture

Logical paradoxes often arise from the left hemisphere’s attempt to apply linear, analytical thinking to phenomena that are better grasped holistically by the right hemisphere. These paradoxes highlight the limitations of a purely logical approach to understanding reality.

Key concept: One must not think ill of the paradox … the thinker without a paradox is like the lover without passion: a mediocre fellow.

17. Intuition’s Claims on Truth

Intuition, often dismissed as unreliable, is actually a powerful and often accurate source of knowledge. It arises from the unconscious processing of vast amounts of information and can lead to insights that elude conscious reasoning. We must learn to trust our intuitions, particularly when dealing with complex, uncertain situations.

Key concept: The relations between things, conjunctive as well as disjunctive, are just as much matters of direct particular experience, neither more so nor less so, than the things themselves. The generalized conclusion is that therefore the parts of experience hold together from next to next by relations that are themselves parts of experience.

18. The Untimely Demise of Intuition

Our overemphasis on explicit reasoning and the conscious mind has led to a neglect of intuition and the unconscious. Intuition is not opposed to reason but complementary to it. We need both, but the right hemisphere’s intuitive understanding should guide the left hemisphere’s analytic reasoning.

Key concept: Why should not logicians, more than anyone, realize the places where hard-edged, clean logic will necessarily run into trouble in dealing with this chaotic and messy universe? One of Marvin Minsky’s favourite claims is ‘Logic doesn’t apply to the real world.’

19. Intuition, Imagination, and the Unveiling of the World

Imagination, often dismissed as mere fantasy, is essential for understanding reality. It enables us to see beyond the obvious, to make connections, and to grasp the whole. It is a creative force that helps us to see the world anew, to appreciate its beauty and its mystery.

Key concept: To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower; hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.

20. The Coincidentia Oppositorum

Reality is characterized by a coincidentia oppositorum, a conjunction of opposites. We must embrace this paradox rather than trying to resolve it in favor of one side or the other. Opposites are not mutually exclusive but complementary and generative.

Key concept: It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth.

21. The One and the Many

The universe is a unity of the One and the Many. We need to appreciate both the interconnectedness of all things and the unique individuality of each thing. Our tendency to overemphasize either side leads to an impoverished understanding of reality.

Key concept: Nations are part of the wealth of the human race. Although generalised, they are its individuals. The smallest of them has its own special colors and hides in itself some special facet of God’s design.

22. Time

Time is not an illusion, nor a container in which we exist, but an essential aspect of reality, and at the core of what it means to be. Our attempts to objectify and spatialize time distort our understanding of it. Time is a flowing process, a duration, that cannot be reduced to a series of static moments.

Key concept: Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river that carries me away, but I am the river; it is a tiger that mangles me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.

23. Flow and Movement

Flow is a fundamental feature of reality, both in the universe at large and in the human mind. Everything is in a constant state of becoming, of movement and change. The attempt to grasp reality in terms of static, fixed entities leads to an incomplete and ultimately incoherent understanding.

Key concept: A flame is like an animal in that you cannot stop it, examine the parts, and start it again, like a machine. Change is part of its very being.

24. Space and Matter

Space, like time, is not a container but an aspect of being. Our perception of space is shaped by our minds, but that does not make it unreal. The left hemisphere’s tendency to reduce space to a two-dimensional representation distorts our understanding of it. We must embrace the right hemisphere’s appreciation for depth and interconnectedness.

Key concept: It is the same elements that go to compose my mind and the world … The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist.

25. Matter and Consciousness

The relationship between matter and consciousness is a profound mystery. However, there is no scientific basis for assuming that matter is the fundamental reality and consciousness a mere epiphenomenon. Indeed, the opposite may be true: consciousness may be the primary reality, and matter an aspect of it. This view is supported by both ancient wisdom traditions and modern physics.

Key concept: Mind has erected the objective outside world of the natural philosopher out of its own stuff. Mind could not cope with this gigantic task otherwise than by the simplifying device of excluding itself - withdrawing from its conceptual creation. Hence the latter does not contain its creator.

26. Value

Values, including truth, goodness, and beauty, are not human inventions but fundamental aspects of reality that we discover and disclose through our engagement with the world. These values are not merely subjective preferences but point to a deeper order and meaning in the cosmos.

Key concept: Beauty–be not caused – It Is – Chase it, and it ceases – Chase it not, and it abides –

27. Purpose, Life and the Nature of the Cosmos

Purpose is not an outdated or unscientific concept but a fundamental feature of reality. Living organisms exhibit purpose at every level, from single cells to complex ecosystems. The left hemisphere’s tendency to see purpose only in instrumental terms limits our understanding of the deeper, intrinsic purposiveness of the cosmos.

Key concept: The teleology of the universe is directed to the production of beauty.

28. The Sense of the Sacred

The sense of the sacred, of something that transcends our everyday understanding, is a universal human experience. This sense is not a product of religious indoctrination but arises from our intuitive apprehension of a deeper reality. We access this reality not through abstract reasoning or literal language but through embodied experience, metaphor, myth, and a sense of wonder and awe.

Key concept: The greatest hindrance to such awareness is our adjustment to conventional notions, to mental clichés. Wonder or radical amazement, the state of maladjustment to words and notions, is therefore a prerequisite for an authentic awareness of that which is.

Essential Questions

1. How do the two hemispheres of the human brain contribute to our understanding of the world?

The human brain is divided into two hemispheres with distinct ways of understanding and interacting with the world. The left hemisphere excels at manipulating the world by reducing it to parts and focusing on detail, while the right hemisphere excels at comprehending the world by grasping wholes and appreciating context. The two hemispheres are not simply antagonistic but complementary, with the right hemisphere ideally acting as the master, guiding and integrating the left hemisphere’s more limited perspective. However, our modern Western culture has become increasingly dominated by the left hemisphere’s mode of thought, leading to a fragmented, mechanistic, and ultimately unsustainable relationship with the world.

2. How do the hemispheres differ in their approach to truth?

The left hemisphere’s approach to truth is characterized by a desire for certainty, precision, and a reliance on logic and language. It sees truth as something that can be objectively defined and definitively known. The right hemisphere, by contrast, is more attuned to the complexity, ambiguity, and fluidity of reality. It sees truth as a dynamic, relational process that unfolds through embodied experience and intuition. While both hemispheres are involved in the pursuit of truth, the right hemisphere’s perspective is more holistic and less prone to the distortions of a purely analytical approach.

3. What are the limitations of science and reason as paths to truth?

The left hemisphere’s dominance has led to an overemphasis on mechanistic models in science and an unquestioned faith in the power of reason. However, these approaches have limitations, particularly when dealing with complex systems such as living organisms, consciousness, and the cosmos as a whole. We need to move beyond a purely reductionist, materialist worldview and embrace a more holistic, process-oriented perspective that acknowledges the role of purpose, meaning, and value in the universe.

4. What role do intuition and imagination play in the pursuit of truth?

While often dismissed as unreliable or irrational, intuition and imagination are actually crucial tools for understanding reality. Intuition, rooted in the unconscious processing of vast amounts of information, can lead to insights that elude conscious reasoning. Imagination enables us to see beyond the obvious, to make connections, and to appreciate the beauty and mystery of the world. Both intuition and imagination are essential for scientific discovery as well as for artistic creation.

5. What is the true nature of the cosmos and our place in it?

The cosmos is not a mindless, meaningless machine but a living, evolving process, characterized by creativity, complexity, and a drive toward greater consciousness. Matter is not the fundamental reality, but an aspect of consciousness. Values, such as truth, goodness, and beauty, are not human inventions but intrinsic to the cosmos. The right hemisphere’s intuitive understanding of the world is more attuned to this reality than the left hemisphere’s analytical approach.

1. How do the two hemispheres of the human brain contribute to our understanding of the world?

The human brain is divided into two hemispheres with distinct ways of understanding and interacting with the world. The left hemisphere excels at manipulating the world by reducing it to parts and focusing on detail, while the right hemisphere excels at comprehending the world by grasping wholes and appreciating context. The two hemispheres are not simply antagonistic but complementary, with the right hemisphere ideally acting as the master, guiding and integrating the left hemisphere’s more limited perspective. However, our modern Western culture has become increasingly dominated by the left hemisphere’s mode of thought, leading to a fragmented, mechanistic, and ultimately unsustainable relationship with the world.

2. How do the hemispheres differ in their approach to truth?

The left hemisphere’s approach to truth is characterized by a desire for certainty, precision, and a reliance on logic and language. It sees truth as something that can be objectively defined and definitively known. The right hemisphere, by contrast, is more attuned to the complexity, ambiguity, and fluidity of reality. It sees truth as a dynamic, relational process that unfolds through embodied experience and intuition. While both hemispheres are involved in the pursuit of truth, the right hemisphere’s perspective is more holistic and less prone to the distortions of a purely analytical approach.

3. What are the limitations of science and reason as paths to truth?

The left hemisphere’s dominance has led to an overemphasis on mechanistic models in science and an unquestioned faith in the power of reason. However, these approaches have limitations, particularly when dealing with complex systems such as living organisms, consciousness, and the cosmos as a whole. We need to move beyond a purely reductionist, materialist worldview and embrace a more holistic, process-oriented perspective that acknowledges the role of purpose, meaning, and value in the universe.

4. What role do intuition and imagination play in the pursuit of truth?

While often dismissed as unreliable or irrational, intuition and imagination are actually crucial tools for understanding reality. Intuition, rooted in the unconscious processing of vast amounts of information, can lead to insights that elude conscious reasoning. Imagination enables us to see beyond the obvious, to make connections, and to appreciate the beauty and mystery of the world. Both intuition and imagination are essential for scientific discovery as well as for artistic creation.

5. What is the true nature of the cosmos and our place in it?

The cosmos is not a mindless, meaningless machine but a living, evolving process, characterized by creativity, complexity, and a drive toward greater consciousness. Matter is not the fundamental reality, but an aspect of consciousness. Values, such as truth, goodness, and beauty, are not human inventions but intrinsic to the cosmos. The right hemisphere’s intuitive understanding of the world is more attuned to this reality than the left hemisphere’s analytical approach.

Key Takeaways

1. We need both hemispheres to understand the world, but the right hemisphere’s perspective is more important.

The right hemisphere plays a crucial role in understanding the world, including human behavior and motivation. Its ability to see the whole, to appreciate context, and to empathize with others is essential for making sense of complex situations. We tend to overemphasize the role of the left hemisphere, but for true understanding, the right hemisphere’s perspective must be taken into account.

Practical Application:

In product design, understanding the user’s needs and motivations requires more than just analyzing their behavior. It requires empathy, the ability to see the world from their perspective, and to appreciate the context in which they use the product. This means engaging both hemispheres, but with the right hemisphere’s intuitive understanding guiding the left hemisphere’s analytical approach.

2. Intuition and imagination are essential tools for understanding and navigating the world.

Intuition and imagination are not opposed to reason but complementary to it. Intuition can lead to insights that elude conscious reasoning, and imagination allows us to see beyond the obvious and to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Both are essential for problem-solving, decision-making, and creativity.

Practical Application:

Effective meetings often depend on more than just logical arguments and clear agendas. They require a shared understanding of the context, the ability to listen to different perspectives, and to find creative solutions that emerge from the group’s collective intelligence. This means creating a space where the right hemisphere can flourish, where intuition and imagination are valued alongside reason.

3. The human mind is not a machine, and we must be wary of the dangers of reducing intelligence to algorithms.

The left hemisphere’s dominance has led to an overemphasis on mechanistic explanations in science and a belief that intelligence can be reduced to algorithms. However, this view is fundamentally flawed. The human mind, and particularly the right hemisphere, is far more complex and subtle than any machine.

Practical Application:

AI safety depends on understanding the limitations of artificial intelligence. We must not assume that machines can replicate the full range of human intelligence, including the right hemisphere’s capacity for empathy, moral judgment, and understanding context. We need to be wary of the tendency to over-rely on algorithms and to cede control to systems that lack a holistic understanding of the world.

1. We need both hemispheres to understand the world, but the right hemisphere’s perspective is more important.

The right hemisphere plays a crucial role in understanding the world, including human behavior and motivation. Its ability to see the whole, to appreciate context, and to empathize with others is essential for making sense of complex situations. We tend to overemphasize the role of the left hemisphere, but for true understanding, the right hemisphere’s perspective must be taken into account.

Practical Application:

In product design, understanding the user’s needs and motivations requires more than just analyzing their behavior. It requires empathy, the ability to see the world from their perspective, and to appreciate the context in which they use the product. This means engaging both hemispheres, but with the right hemisphere’s intuitive understanding guiding the left hemisphere’s analytical approach.

2. Intuition and imagination are essential tools for understanding and navigating the world.

Intuition and imagination are not opposed to reason but complementary to it. Intuition can lead to insights that elude conscious reasoning, and imagination allows us to see beyond the obvious and to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Both are essential for problem-solving, decision-making, and creativity.

Practical Application:

Effective meetings often depend on more than just logical arguments and clear agendas. They require a shared understanding of the context, the ability to listen to different perspectives, and to find creative solutions that emerge from the group’s collective intelligence. This means creating a space where the right hemisphere can flourish, where intuition and imagination are valued alongside reason.

3. The human mind is not a machine, and we must be wary of the dangers of reducing intelligence to algorithms.

The left hemisphere’s dominance has led to an overemphasis on mechanistic explanations in science and a belief that intelligence can be reduced to algorithms. However, this view is fundamentally flawed. The human mind, and particularly the right hemisphere, is far more complex and subtle than any machine.

Practical Application:

AI safety depends on understanding the limitations of artificial intelligence. We must not assume that machines can replicate the full range of human intelligence, including the right hemisphere’s capacity for empathy, moral judgment, and understanding context. We need to be wary of the tendency to over-rely on algorithms and to cede control to systems that lack a holistic understanding of the world.

Suggested Deep Dive

Chapter: Chapter 9: What Schizophrenia and Autism Can Tell Us

This chapter provides firsthand accounts from patients with schizophrenia and autism that vividly illustrate the consequences of a left hemisphere-dominant world view. It is particularly relevant to AI product engineers as it highlights the importance of considering the broader context, the nuances of human experience, and the potential pitfalls of an overly analytical approach.

Memorable Quotes

Introduction. 25

…it seems plain and self-evident, yet it needs to be said: the isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value whatsoever, but only in its synthesis with all the rest of knowledge and only inasmuch as it really contributes in this synthesis toward answering the demand, τίνες δὲ ἡμεῖς?; ‘Who are we?’

Attention. 39

Attention does not just change things in some rather nebulous way. Attention is responsible not just for the how (though it is), not just for the what (though it is), but, as far as the left hemisphere is concerned, for the whether-at-all of existence. What it doesn’t attend to, as far as the left hemisphere is concerned, doesn’t exist.

The Science of Life: A Study in Left Hemisphere Capture. 115

… we cannot speak of a machine “theory” of the organism, but at most of a machine fiction.

Reason’s Claims on Truth. 141

If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment … He is the more logical for losing certain sane affections. Indeed, the common phrase for insanity is in this respect a misleading one. The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.

The Untimely Demise of Intuition. 185

For all nontrivial problems … calculating the best response is cognitively way too taxing. This, however, is true only for the consciously controlled handling of information. The automatic system handles huge amounts of information in almost no time. Only the end result is propelled back to consciousness as an intuition.

Introduction. 25

…it seems plain and self-evident, yet it needs to be said: the isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value whatsoever, but only in its synthesis with all the rest of knowledge and only inasmuch as it really contributes in this synthesis toward answering the demand, τίνες δὲ ἡμεῖς?; ‘Who are we?’

Attention. 39

Attention does not just change things in some rather nebulous way. Attention is responsible not just for the how (though it is), not just for the what (though it is), but, as far as the left hemisphere is concerned, for the whether-at-all of existence. What it doesn’t attend to, as far as the left hemisphere is concerned, doesn’t exist.

The Science of Life: A Study in Left Hemisphere Capture. 115

… we cannot speak of a machine “theory” of the organism, but at most of a machine fiction.

Reason’s Claims on Truth. 141

If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment … He is the more logical for losing certain sane affections. Indeed, the common phrase for insanity is in this respect a misleading one. The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.

The Untimely Demise of Intuition. 185

For all nontrivial problems … calculating the best response is cognitively way too taxing. This, however, is true only for the consciously controlled handling of information. The automatic system handles huge amounts of information in almost no time. Only the end result is propelled back to consciousness as an intuition.

Comparative Analysis

“The Matter With Things” stands as a powerful counter-narrative to the prevailing reductionist, materialist view of the world, a view popularized by authors like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. Unlike those authors, who champion a world of mindless mechanisms, blind chance, and the pursuit of utility as the ultimate value, McGilchrist offers a vision that sees the universe as imbued with consciousness, driven by purpose, and continually evolving towards greater complexity, beauty, and meaning. This vision aligns with the thinking of great scientists like Einstein, Schrödinger, and Heisenberg, who recognized the limitations of a purely mechanistic view of reality. Unlike those scientists, however, and, more surprisingly, unlike most contemporary biologists, who still cling to an outdated vision of the world that physics abandoned 100 years ago, McGilchrist draws on his unique expertise as both a psychiatrist and a scholar of the humanities to provide a richer and more nuanced account of the world, one that is more compatible with our lived experience. In doing so, he draws heavily on philosophical traditions that have been marginalized, such as those of the Pragmatists, process philosophers, and phenomenologists, as well as ancient bodies of wisdom from both East and West. The result is a unique and important contribution to our understanding of what it means to be human in a world we are in grave danger of destroying through our blindness to its true nature.

Reflection

“The Matter With Things” is a monumental work of extraordinary breadth and depth, challenging us to fundamentally rethink our assumptions about reality. McGilchrist’s synthesis of neuroscience, philosophy, and cultural history provides a compelling case for the importance of the right hemisphere’s understanding of the world. However, his strong advocacy for the right hemisphere can, at times, lead him into overly sharp distinctions between the hemispheres, creating a somewhat Manichean picture. While his central argument is persuasive, the relentless negativity about the left hemisphere and its role in modernity risks alienating readers who may feel unjustly indicted for their left hemisphere proclivities. Nonetheless, the book stands as a powerful corrective to the prevailing reductionist, materialist worldview, reminding us of the importance of the embodied, the intuitive, and the sacred. It is a call to reclaim a more holistic, balanced, and ultimately more humane way of being in the world, one that recognizes our interconnectedness with each other and with the cosmos.

Flashcards

What is the purpose of the right hemisphere?

To comprehend it - to see it all for what it is

What is the purpose of the left hemisphere?

To apprehend it - and thus to manipulate it

What is a key aspect of our experience that we are not aware of?

Our experience is constantly synthesized from the divergent “takes” on the world offered to us by each of our brain hemispheres.

What is attention?

The disposition adopted by one’s consciousness towards the world

What is a vicious circle at work in the way we perceive the world?

The more one pays, for example, dehumanizing, mechanizing attention to the world, the more only those aspects of the world that can be construed in terms of mechanisms stand forth.

What is the ultimate creative act?

The manner in which our consciousness is disposed towards whatever else exists

What matters when comparing the two hemispheres?

It is not the what, but the how, that matters

What is a key principle in evolutionary biology?

Asymmetry pays

What is a key finding of brain imaging studies about the resting state?

In the resting state of the normal brain, there is in general greater connectivity and coherence in the right hemisphere

Which hemisphere is more in touch with reality?

The right hemisphere

What is the purpose of the right hemisphere?

To comprehend it - to see it all for what it is

What is the purpose of the left hemisphere?

To apprehend it - and thus to manipulate it

What is a key aspect of our experience that we are not aware of?

Our experience is constantly synthesized from the divergent “takes” on the world offered to us by each of our brain hemispheres.

What is attention?

The disposition adopted by one’s consciousness towards the world

What is a vicious circle at work in the way we perceive the world?

The more one pays, for example, dehumanizing, mechanizing attention to the world, the more only those aspects of the world that can be construed in terms of mechanisms stand forth.

What is the ultimate creative act?

The manner in which our consciousness is disposed towards whatever else exists

What matters when comparing the two hemispheres?

It is not the what, but the how, that matters

What is a key principle in evolutionary biology?

Asymmetry pays

What is a key finding of brain imaging studies about the resting state?

In the resting state of the normal brain, there is in general greater connectivity and coherence in the right hemisphere

Which hemisphere is more in touch with reality?

The right hemisphere