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by Karl R. Popper and John C. Eccles
(Routledge, 1977)
This work is perhaps the most complete, scientifically leading-edge
testimonial to the hypothesis that an incorporeal soul exists.
Popper declares without reservation that he believes "in the ghost
in the machine" [3, ch. P4, sec. 30]. That is a popular expression
used by neurologists and others who have concluded from observations
of the activity of the brain that the brain appears to be receiving
instructions from the incorporeal mind or from what Popper and
Eccles call the self-conscious self, or what can also be called the
soul. Further on Popper says, "The analogy between the brain and
computer may be admitted; and it may be pointed out that the
computer is helpless without the programmer." [3, ch. P4, sec. 33].
By the programmer Popper means the self-conscious self, which can
also be the soul. In concluding the section on the relationship
between the brain and the self (i.e. the soul), Popper states:
I have called this section "The Self and Its Brain", because I
intend here to suggest that the brain is owned by the self, rather
than the other way around. The self is almost always active. The
activity of selves is, I suggest, the only genuine activity we know.
The active, psycho-physical self is the active programmer of the
brain (which is the computer), it is the executant whose instrument
is the brain. The mind is, as Plato said, the pilot. It is not, as
David Hume and William James suggested, the sum total, or the
bundle, or the stream of its experiences: this suggests passivity.
It is, I suppose, a view that results from passively trying to
observe oneself, instead of thinking back and reviewing one's past
actions.
I suggest that these considerations show that the self is not a
"pure ego" ... that is, a mere subject. Rather, it is incredibly
rich. Like a pilot, it observes and takes action at the same time.
It is acting and suffering, recalling the past and planning and
programming the future; expecting and disposing. It contains, in
quick succession, or all at once, wishes, plans, hopes, decisions to
act, and a vivid consciousness of being an acting self, a centre of
action. And it owes its selfhood largely to interaction with other
persons, other selves, and with World 3. And all this closely
interacts with the tremendous "activity" going on in the brain. [3,
ch. P4, sec. 33] I wanted to stress this pre-eminence of the
self-conscious mind because now I raise the questions: What is the
self-conscious mind? How does it come to exist? How is it attached
to the brain in all its intimate relationships of give and take? How
does it come to be? And in the end, not only how does it come to be,
but what is its ultimate fate when, in due course, the brain
disintegrates? [3, Dialogue XI]
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