Brain Laterality and Religious Awareness

John Cottingham

doi:10.1080/2153599X.2019.1604413

Brain Laterality and Religious Awareness

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Abstract

Abstract: Iain McGilchrist’s The Master and His Emissary makes an important distinction between two different human ways of relating to the world, which may be described respectively as a ‘connected’ mode, and an ‘abstracted’ mode. In this paper, three questions are raised about this. First, how far does the distinction really depend on the scientific findings about brain laterality that McGilchrist invokes? Second, what are its implications for the current practice of philosophy in general and philosophy of religion in particular, especially in the anglophone world? And third, what lessons can be drawn about the status of religious thought and practice in the modern scientific age?

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	362-368
Journal	Religion, Brain and Behaviour
Volume	9
Issue number	4
Early online date	26 Jun 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2019.1604413
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2019

Keywords

brain science; hemisphere; meaning; phenomenology; religious experience.

Access to Document

10.1080/2153599X.2019.1604413Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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