Summary
A reliable understanding of the nature of causation is the core feature of science. In this paper the concept of top-down causation in the hierarchy of structure and causation is examined in depth. Five different classes of top-down causation are identified and illustrated with real-world examples. They are (1) al gorithmic top-down causation; (2) top-down causation via nonadaptive information control; (3) top-down causation via adaptive selection; (4) top-down causation via adaptive information control; and (5) intelligent top-down causation (i.e., the effect of the human mind on the physical world). Recognizing these forms of causation implies that other kinds of causes than physical and chemical interactions are effective in the real world. Because of the existence of random processes at the bottom, there is sufficient causal slack at the physical level to allow all these kinds of causation to occur without violation of physical causation. That they do indeed occur is indicated by many kinds of evidence. Each such kind of causation takes place in particular in the human brain, as is indicated by specific examples.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, P.W.: More is different. Science 177, 377 (1972); Reprinted in Anderson, P.W.: A Career in Theoretical Physics. World Scientific, Singapore (1994)
Beer, M.E., Connors, B.W., Paradiso, M.A.: Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. Lippincot, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia (2007)
Beer, S.: Decision and Control. Wiley, New York (1966)
Berger, P.: Invitation to sociology: A humanistic perspective. Doubleday, New York (1963)
Berger, P., Luckmann, T.: The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Anchor, New York (1967)
Bishop, C.M.: Neural networks for pattern recognition. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1999)
Bishop, R., Atmanspacher, H.: Contextual emergence in the description of properties. Foundations of Physics 36, 1753–1777 (2006)
Booch, G.: Object oriented analysis and design with applications. Addison Wesley, New York (1994)
Boulding, K.E.: The image: Knowledge in life and society. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (1961)
Cacioppo, J.T., Berntson, G.G., Adophs, R., Carter, C.S., Davidson, R.J., McClintock, M.K., Mcewan, B.S., Meaney, M.J., Schacter, D.L., Sternberg, E.M., Suomi, S.S., Taylor, S.E. (eds.): Foundations in social neuroscience. MIT Press, Cambridge (2002)
Campbell, D.T.: Downward causation. In: Ayala, F.J., Dobhzansky, T. (eds.) Studies in the philosophy of biology: Reduction and related problems, pp. 179–186. University of California Press, Berkeley (1974)
Campbell, N.A., Reece, J.B.: Biology, 7th edn. Pearson, Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco (2005)
Churchman, C.W.: The systems approach. Delacorte Press, New York (1968)
Crick, F.: The astonishing hypothesis The scientific search for the soul. Scribner, New York (1995)
Deacon, T.: The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the human brain. Penguin, London (1997)
Devlin, K.: Mathematics: The science of patterns. Henry Holt & Company, New York (1996)
Dodelson, S.: Modern cosmology. Academic Press, San Diego (2003)
Donald, M.: A mind so rare: The evolution of human consciousness. W.W. Norton, New York (2001)
Edelman, G.M.: Neural Darwinism: The theory of group neuronal selection. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1989)
Ellis, G.F.R.: Physics, complexity, and causality. Nature 435, 743 (2005), http://wwwnature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7043/edsumm/e050609-03.html
Ellis, G.F.R.: On the nature of emergent reality. In: Clayton, P., Davies, P.C.W. (eds.) The Re-emergence of emergence, pp. 79–110. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2006a)
Ellis, G.F.R.: Physics and the real world. Foundations of Physics 26(2), 227–236 (2006b)
Ellis, G.F.R.: On the nature of causation in complex systems. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa [Centenary Issue] 63, 69–84 (2008)
Ellis, G.F.R., Toronchuk, J.A.: Neural development: Affective and immune system influences. In: Ellis, R.D., Newton, N. (eds.) Consciousness and emotion, pp. 81–119. John Benjamins, Philadelphia (2005), http://www.mth.uct.ac.za/~ellis/AND.doc
Falcon, A. (2006), Aristotle on Causality. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/
Feynman, R.: The character of physical law. Penguin, London (1992)
Flood, R.L., Carson, E.R.: Dealing with complexity: An introduction to the theory and application of systems science. Plenum, London (1990)
Frankl, V.: Man’s Search for Meaning. Washington Square Press, New York (1984)
Frith, C.: Making up the mind: How the brain creates our mental world. Blackwell, Malden (2007)
Glimcher, P.W.: Indeterminacy in brain and behavior. Annual Review of Psychology 56, 25–56 (2005)
Greenspan, R.J.: An introduction to nervous systems. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor (2007)
Gutnisky, D.A., Dragoi, V.: Adaptive coding of visual information in neural populations. Nature 452, 220–224 (2008)
Hartmann, S.: Effective Field Theories, Reductionism, and Scientific Explanation. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32, 267–304 (2001)
Holland, J.H.: Adaptation in natural and artificial systems. MIT Press, Cambridge (1992)
Juarrero, A.: Dynamics in action: Intentional behavior as a complex system. MIT Press, Cambridge (1999)
Koch, C.: The quest for consciousness: A neurobiological approach. Roberts and Company, Englewood (2004)
LeDoux, J.: Synaptic self. Viking, New York (2002)
Longres, J.F.: Human behavior in the social environment. F.E. Peacock, Itasca, IL (1990)
Luisi, P.L.: Emergence in chemistry: Chemistry as the embodiment of emergence. Foundations of Chemistry 4, 183–200 (2002)
Mitchell, M.: An introduction to genetic algorithms. Complex Adaptive Systems. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)
Murphy, N., Ellis, G.F.R.: On the moral nature of the universe. Fortress, Minneapolis (1995)
Peacocke, A.R.: An introduction to the physical chemistry of biological organization. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1989)
Percival, I.: Schrödinger’s quantum cat. Nature 351, 357 (1991)
Polkinghorne, J.: Quantum theory: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2002)
Roederer, J.G.: Information and its role in nature. Springer, Berlin (2005)
Scalo, J.M., Wheeler, J.C., Williams, P.: Intermittent jolts of galactic UV radiation: Mutagenetic effects. astro-ph/0104209. In: Celnikier, L.M., Van Thanh, J.T. (eds.) Frontiers of life – XIIth Rencontres de Blois. Gioi Publishers, Hanoi (2003)
Scott, A.: Stairway to the mind. Springer, New York (1995)
Silk, J.: The big bang. Freeman, New York (2001)
Simon, H.A.: The Sciences of the artificial. MIT Press, Cambridge (1992)
Tanenbaum, A.S.: Structured computer organization. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1990)
Van Gulick, R.: Who’s in charge here? And who’s doing all the work? In: Heil, J., Mele, A. (eds.) Mental Causation, pp. 233–256. Clarendon, Oxford (1995)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ellis, G.F.R. (2009). Top-Down Causation and the Human Brain. In: Murphy, N., Ellis, G.F.R., O’Connor, T. (eds) Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free Will. Understanding Complex Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03205-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03205-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03204-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03205-9
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)