-------------------------------------------------------------------
A Problem of Symmetries
Iain McGilchrist
Iain McGilchrist
Keywords: Scheler, hemisphere, asymmetry, phenomenology,
schizophrenia, depression, Drang, Geist
schizophrenia, depression, Drang, Geist
John Cutting is among the most interesting
minds writing in psychiatry today. He has,
with a rare combination of erudition and
imagination, forged links between aspects of
reality as delineated by philosophy and those that
come into being through the workings of the two
hemispheres of the brain.
*
*
The phenomenological reduction......
*
The scientific reduction is the left hemisphere Geist, still in touch with the right hemisphere’s Drang, but not allowing the products of its work a return to the right hemisphere, to be subject to the right hemisphere’s Geist and Drang: it represents the world as conceived by scientific materialism and it achieves only the lowest level of Scheler’s hierarchy of values.
*
The Asymmetry of the AsymmetriesDrang and Geist need to work together, and only do so in the right hemisphere, because the right hemisphere has both, where the left hemisphere has Geist only. In this, as in so much else, the hemispheres are not symmetrical. This is because the right hemisphere has a different status from the left: it is both where whatever-it-is-thatexists- apart-from-ourselves is first experienced and where it is finally understood. The left hemisphere is intermediate, where phenomena are ‘unpacked’ before a return to the right hemisphere. Geist has awareness of all the values, but none of them can be fulfilled without Drang. Geist on its own is a Faustian, Luciferian spirit. I hold that neither Drang nor Geist alone is able to achieve the higher levels of Scheler’s hierarchy—Drang because it is blind to what Geist can see, but Geist because it is essentially ‘egotistical,’ out for itself. If Geist is on its own, it is constantly brought back to the lowest level values, those of self-interest (sinnliche Werte and those of utility). In addition, Geist derives its power from Drang. However, Geist can achieve certain things that would be important for both of them only if it can be either temporarily or partially free from Drang. Thus, they need both to be separate and then to reunite. This is achieved by the bihemispheric structure of the brain, although not, I would say, by Geist being in one hemisphere and Drang in the other, but by both being in one hemisphere (right) and Geist alone in the other (left). (My bold & italics)
No comments:
Post a Comment