Abstract:

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Cognitive science challenges our understandings of self and freedom. In this article, adapted from a chapter in Minding God: Theology and the Cognitive Sciences (Peterson 2003), I review some of the scientific literature with regard to issues of self and freedom. I argue that our sense of self is a construct and heavily dependent on the kind of brain that we have. Furthermore, understanding the issue of freedom requires an understanding of the findings of cognitive science. Human beings are constrained to be free; our biology in no small way determines the kinds of freedom that we are able to have.

Keywords: Antonio Damasio; emotion; freedom; Martin Luther; V. S. Ramachandran; self; split brains

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2004.t01-1-00601.x

Affiliations: 1: South Dakota State University, Brookings