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Neurophysiological Correlates of Mental Unity

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Brain and Conscious Experience
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Abstract

The neurophysiological problem raised by the behavioral singleness of all goal-seeking creatures had until recently attracted little attention from the studies of nervous mechanisms. The reason for this apparent lack of interest is perhaps to be found in the fact that behavioral singleness becomes mental unity in man and that physiologists feared to incur the reproach of adhering to a unifying concept recalling the Cartesian description of “la petite glande qui se trouve environ le milieu des concavités du cerveau et est proprement le siège du sens commun.” The body-mind relationship remained as a metaphysical problem, not as a scientific one [Pirenne, 1950]. Yet, one may wonder whether it is not time for abandoning this attitude of resignation.

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John C. Eccles

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© 1965 Pontificia Academia Scientiarum, Città del Vaticano

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Bremer, F. (1965). Neurophysiological Correlates of Mental Unity. In: Eccles, J.C. (eds) Brain and Conscious Experience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-49168-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-49168-9_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-49170-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-49168-9

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