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Old 12-09-2005, 06:44 PM
ep510 ep510 is offline
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Default The God Part of the Brain

So I recently read a very interesting book called "The God Part of the Brain," by Matthew Alper (more info on the book ). I guess the point of this post is to sort of summarize what the book says and see what you guys think of it. Of course, to get the meat of the material, you'll have to read it for yourself.

Alpine, the author, basically set out on a quest to find God, and through his journey, this is what he found:

Alpine argues that man is essentially the first and only creature to have the intellectual capacity to realize oneself. That is, we have the capacity to realize we exist. When we look into a pond, we see our reflection, and we acknowledge that that image is not another being, but ourselves. He claims that at some point in our evolutionary history, we obtained this ability to acknowledge our own existence. With that realization, however, came the realization that we CAN not exist, and that one day, we WILL not exist. With thus sudden capacity to realize that someday we will not exist naturally causes fear and a lack of purpose to our existence. If we will one day not exist, why should it matter what we do now?

This is where he argues about the so-called "God part of the brain." Alpine theorizes that just as people have musical talents, athletic talents, intellectual talents, and so on that are results of the chemistry of our brain, we must have a similar part of our brain that is devoted to religion and spirituality. There must be a "God part of the brain." This part of the brain may be more prominent in some (very religious people) and less in others (atheists). Note that he specifies that the religious part of the brain is separate from the spiritual part, but that is something that you'll have to read to get more detail on.

Essentially, Alpine says that this God part of the brain was a necessary evolutionary adaptation for mankind when we realized our very possible non-existence. Without this adaptation, mankind would be very weak indeed. Imagine the world with no religion. Chaos would ensue.

Throughout the book, Alpine offers a lot of evidence that points in this direction, and it is very, very convincing. I won't specify the details as I want a general opinion on this theory of his. If you're interested at all about his theory, I definitely recommend reading his book. It's a very fast read and very interesting and inciteful.

Comments?

-Eric
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Old 12-09-2005, 07:20 PM
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Default Re: The God Part of the Brain

[ QUOTE ]
Essentially, Alpine says that this God part of the brain was a necessary evolutionary adaptation for mankind when we realized our very possible non-existence. Without this adaptation, mankind would be very weak indeed. Imagine the world with no religion. Chaos would ensue.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am very skeptical of this claim and would like to hear his reasoning. I do not think God is a necessary explanation, but only a possible one, which just happens to be very prominent in the history of thought. I don't see how it exists as a function of the brain as Alpine appears to claim. To me it is more of a development of thought. I don't claim to know much about the scientific matters surrounding this issue, though.
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Old 12-09-2005, 08:16 PM
imported_luckyme imported_luckyme is offline
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Default Re: The God Part of the Brain

[ QUOTE ]
Essentially, Alpine says that this God part of the brain was a necessary evolutionary adaptation for mankind when we realized our very possible non-existence. Without this adaptation, mankind would be very weak indeed. Imagine the world with no religion. Chaos would ensue.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yikes ! there's chaos is the far east and europe?? wow. I've always thought those trains ran so reliably and crime rates were relatively low. Shouldn't a theory have to fit the facts first and make predictions second?

that's my initial reaction, and I'm someone who thinks there are brain regions that are easily supportive of religious conditioning. Some interesting cases out there in neuroscience, fascinating field.
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Old 12-10-2005, 12:37 AM
Stu Pidasso Stu Pidasso is offline
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Default Re: The God Part of the Brain

[ QUOTE ]
Alpine argues that man is essentially the first and only creature to have the intellectual capacity to realize oneself.

[/ QUOTE ]

[censored] Neanderthalis may have also had this capacity. Perhaps they were athiests and thats why they lost the ultimate competition.

Stu
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