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Fundamentals of Ethics for Scientists and Engineers. Edmund G. Seebauer and Robert L. Barry. 2002. Oxford University
Press. 269 pp.
A basic ethics course for scientists and engineers.
The term “professional ethics” is sometimes a euphemism for studiously
preventing legal liability for errors or wrongdoing; it is always welcome
to find books that take a more fully human view. This very readable book
covers the great tradition from Aristotle to Aquinas to more modern
thinkers, and gives practical applications to typical issues and problems
people in science and engineering encounter.
The Mind and the Brain:
Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force. Jeffrey Schwartz and
Sharon Begley. 2003. Harper Collins. 432 pp.
A scientific argument in favor of dualism, i.e., the view that human
psychology can only be fully explained by taking into account both matter
and spirit.
The view that mental and emotional activity is entirely explainable without
mention of the spirit has been in vogue for some time now, for many
reasons, some of them not scientific. The authors mention, for example, the
seeming attractiveness of such a simplistic outlook: "A pharmaceutical
company tells us that to cure shyness (or"social phobia") we need
only reach for a little pill... We need not address the emotional or
spiritual causes of our sadness to have the cloud of depression lift; we
need not question the way we teach our children before we can rid them of
attention deficit disorder."
However, "finally, after a generation or more in which biological
materialism has had neuroscience − indeed, all the life sciences − in a
chokehold, we may at last be breaking free." While materialistic
forces undeniably influence brain behavior, there are many things that
cannot be explained without accepting the existence of a non-material mind.
A good example is Schwartz’ own work on obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD). A patient may fully realize that his hands are clean, and yet feel
irrationally compelled to wash them. Brain scans reveal abnormal brain
activity, as we would expect. If the brain were a machine, this abnormal
circuitry would condemn the user to permanently abnormal behavior, unless
the circuitry were physically rewired. However, Schwartz’ patients cured
themselves by intentionally modifying their thoughts and behaviors, such
that their brain activity was normalized without any physical intervention.
The evidence put forth in this book is all the more convincing when taken
together with other recent works like Dean Radin's The Conscious Universe.
In the latter part of Schwartz and Begley’s book, an attempt is made to
come up with a theoretical framework that takes into account both brain and
mind, drawing in part on Schwartz' knowledge of the Buddhist tradition, and
in part on quantum mechanics. This part of the book is the weakest; they
might get farther by using a metaphysics similar to that proposed by Robert
Koons (Realism Regained) in his work on mental causation, for instance.
Nevertheless, the book remains a valuable contribution to the ongoing
debate of whether life is more meaningful than blind forces of nature, and
whether there is a self that thinks and possesses free will.
Jeffrey Schwartz is a research professor of psychiatry at UCLA.
The
Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force. (『心と脳 ―神経の可塑性と精神力―』) Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon
Begley. 2003. Harper Collins. 432 pp.
二元論の科学的論証。人間の心理は、物質と精神の双方を考慮に入れない限り、完全な説明ができない。
多くの理由を掲げて、魂のことについて全く言及しなくても心と感情の働きは完全に説明できるという考え方が今日市井に氾濫している。しかしその理由のいくつかは科学的ではない。たとえば、「製薬会社によると、あがり症（社会恐怖症）を治療するには、少しだけ錠剤を飲むだけでいいそうよ・・・うつの原因になった悲しみの感情的、精神的原因について話さなくてもいいし」「こどもが注意欠陥障害にならない間は、こどもの躾の仕方を考える必要はないわ（なっても錠剤を飲ませれば大丈夫）」のような最も単純な見解の魅力について、著者はふれている。
しかしながら、「２，30年の間生物学的物質主義が神経科学―むしろ生命科学全体ともいってもいい―を窒息させていたが、我々はついに物質主義から解放されて自由に動きがとれるようになった。」
物質的な力が脳の働きに影響を与えていることは否定できないものの、非物質的な心の存在を認めないと説明できないことも数多く存在する。その好例がSchwartzによる「強迫観念症」（OCD）についての研究である。
強迫観念症の患者は手が清潔であることを頭では理解しているにもかかわらず、非合理的に手を洗わないといけないと感じてしまう。我々が期待していた通り、脳をスキャンしたところ異常な脳の活動があきらかになった。脳を機械にたとえると、この機械の電気回路を物理的に修理しない限り、異常な反応を示した電気回路によって使い手である人間は異常な行動をし続けることになる。しかしながら、Schwartzの患者達は意識的に考え方や行動を修正することによって、自分を治療し、その結果この患者達の脳は外科手術をしないで正常になった。
この本の中で提起されている証拠は、Dean
Radinの著作“The Conscious Universe”（有意識の世界）を併読することでより説得力を増す。SchwartzとBegleyの本の後半部分は脳と心を説明する理論的枠組みを克服する試みがなされており、一部Schwartzが持つ仏教の伝統の知識と量子力学とについて書かれている。この部分は本の中で説得力を欠き、著者達はRobert
Koonsが“Realism Regained（回復されたレアリズム）”の中で心の中の因果関係について説明したのと同様に形而上学を使用することで論理的に飛躍してしまった。それにもかかわらず、この本は、人生が自然の盲目的な力よりも意義があるものかどうか、また自由意志を意識し所有する主体（Self）が存在するかどうかという現在進行中の議論に対して貴重な貢献をしている。
Signs of Intelligence:
Understanding intelligent design. William Dembski and James
Kushiner, eds. 2001. Brazos. 224 pp.
Fourteen short articles from various fields that take the view that there
is abundant evidence of intelligent design in the world, and that this
explains physical reality better than mindless chance or necessity.
Materialism is sometimes assumed to be the most reasonable attitude for a
scientist or careful thinker of any sort. Science, however (or so the
contributors argue) does not support that view. Journalists, philosophers,
educators and scientists form various fields (biology, physics,
paleontology, probability theory) offer a logical discussion.
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