This Is (Sort of) How You Came To Have A Mind

Admittedly, and obviously, I am not a scientist or a philosopher. However, I enjoy these subjects and occasionally challenge my limited knowledge by reading. Case in point: Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False, by Thomas Nagel, Professor of Philosophy at New York University. Don’t let the title blow your mind.

Nagel attempts to show that “mind” is not a Darwinian concept, not the result of natural selection, and not evolutionary. Although, he also points out, “there is no reason to assume that the only alternative is a religious one.”

Scientists claim that the mind evolved from the material world, from matter, in an evolutionary process. Nagel is less certain that consciousness originated out of matter. As a philosopher, he understands the mind to be a separate entity, different from the brain. He argues, the “materialistic version of evolution cannot account for the existence of mind and consciousness.” In the case of the human mind, he says, natural selection defies common sense.

Religious readers in the blogdom may rely on Biblical sources and name the process “intelligent design,” but the Divine concept is missing from Mind and Cosmos. Nagel's position is that entirely different scenarios may account for the emergence of conscious life, which might be teleological rather than materialist. He claims his argument is not a religious one, although he does not specify alternatives.

It seems to me, the mind/brain came into being in a very materialistic Darwinian process of natural selection, all crunched up and curly, busily producing synaptic connections, inside a thick bony skull – sort of like this:

One of many slimy critters that crawled out of the primordial soup was attracted by something bright red and fluttery – after having developed eyes (and brain) to see, of course. It reached out to cop a feel, and got the surprise of its life. “Ouch, that burns!” it would have screamed – if it had been more evolved. (Scientifically speaking, the critter reacted to the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion called, Fire!) It may have been our first instinct: to survive, which grew to include ducking to avoid thrown objects, and reacting to loud noises. Other instincts followed: sex, fear, anger, yawning, etc. (I don’t instinctively remember the entire list.)

Then, by the time this very special critter’s progeny had grown arms and legs and learned to climb trees, they seemed to forget certain natural tendencies, which continued on without them noticing. And they began to remember other, really important stuff, including philosophy, science, and (heaven help us) religion.

That’s how it happened, I think. (Voilà: I think, therefore I am.) But, I have to do much more reading.

I look forward to your thoughtful comments on the subject – and, perhaps, your review of Mind and Cosmos, Oxford University Press, available from Amazon.com.