On Body-Soul Duality: How advances in Neuroscience can bring new insights to Anthropological Reflection
The human being has often been described as «a composite of body and soul». «Body» and «soul» have sometimes been seen as distinct realities, almost as if belongingto different worlds, or realms: the body to a so-called «material» world; and the soulto a world understood as «incorporeal» (a «mental»...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Ed. Pontificia Univ. Gregoriana
2019
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| In: |
Gregorianum
Year: 2019, Volume: 100, Issue: 1, Pages: 93-114 |
| Further subjects: | B
Soul music
B Nonreductive Physicalism B Neuroscience B Theological Anthropology B Body B Dualism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The human being has often been described as «a composite of body and soul». «Body» and «soul» have sometimes been seen as distinct realities, almost as if belongingto different worlds, or realms: the body to a so-called «material» world; and the soulto a world understood as «incorporeal» (a «mental» world, or a «world of ideas»). In a recent speech, Pope Francis noted that advances in neuroscience may bring newperspectives to Christian anthropology, possibly even calling into question the understandingof «fundamental realities», such as «the soul, self-awareness and freedom». Somehow analogous, perhaps, to what happened with the Copernican revolution,which resulted in a deepening of Christian reflection itself (the «heavens», where God«inhabited», could no longer be understood in a geographical way), maybe a processof a certain demythologization of the mental can eventually result in a deepening ofour anthropological reflection. Without having to call into question any of the foundations of Christian faith orof human dignity, no longer seeing the «soul» as a reality belonging to some other«realm» (beyond our space-time world) may eventually lead to a more integratedunderstanding of the human being, as well as to a deeper appreciation of life, and ofthe concrete world in which we live. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Gregorianum
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