Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Right brain or left brain?
Suppose you were under the control of a mad scientist. That scientist told you he was going to split your brain up, and put your left brain into a body that he was going to torment, and the other brain into a body that would be given a pleasant existence. Which one would you choose?
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6 comments:
Just say no. Hasn't anyone read _Sophie's Choice_?
Hello Victor,
“Suppose you were under the control of a mad scientist.”
What do you mean by “under the control of”??
The **extent and manner** of control that the mad scientist has over you will determine the answer to your question. If he has total control over every aspect of your being, if he directly controls your body, bodily movements, thoughts, desires, EVERYTHING, and he determines every choice that you make, then you would never ever have a choice. You might mistakenly believe that you had a choice in regard to some option, but in reality you would never have a choice if he completely and directly controls you and determines your actions/choices. This kind of total control of one person by another is what the necessatarians/calvinists believe in. In such a scenario, there is no such thing as HAVING A CHOICE since your every action is controlled by the other person and you will do only what the other person has you do. It is like being controlled by a puppet master, whatever strings he pulls determines what you end up doing.
“That scientist told you he was going to split your brain up, and put your left brain into a body that he was going to torment, and the other brain into a body that would be given a pleasant existence. Which one would you choose?”
Again, if he exercises total and direct control over every aspect of your being (including your deliberations and choices), then YOU WOULD NEVER EVER HAVE A CHOICE. You might believe that you had a choice of either option (i.e., you might mistakenly believe that you had libertarian free will), but your belief would be wrong, since you did not have a choice. He would determine what choice you make since he controls you, which presumably means he controls your thoughts, desires, beliefs, values, EVERYTHING.
Him telling you that you had a choice, when in reality you did not, would be similar to what happens if the necessatarians are right (if everything is predetermined and controlled by God, then you only make the choices He wants you to make.
God may say that He loves the world and provides Jesus for the sins of the world, but only the preselected elect **who get lucky** get to choose to have faith in God while the **extremely unlucky** “reprobates”/non-elect can and only will choose to be unbelievers; likewise you will only choose the bad or good experience depending upon what the scientist who controls you dictates for you to choose). What the scientist (or God in the case of necessatarians) tells you really is not relevant. All that matters if he controls you completely and directly is what he wants you to choose and necessitates for you to choose. Exhaustive determinism necessarily eliminates the reality of having choices.
Robert
PS- my understanding of the brain hemispheres was that the two hemispheres work together holistically, so I am not sure that you could split them up completely. Even assuming that you could, if the scientist completely controls you, you still would not have a choice about it.
I don't understand what you mean by "choose" in this context.
What I am actually choosing?
Robert: "PS- my understanding of the brain hemispheres was that the two hemispheres work together holistically, so I am not sure that you could split them up completely."
True enough. Yet, at the same time, there *are* people who have had (and survived) total removal of one hemisphere. If the person is still a child, the brain seems to reconfigure itself fairly quickly -- I suspect that even an adult brain can be reconfigured, given enough time (like, years or even decades).
This is a no-brainer. I'd say, give my right brain the good treatment, and torture my left brain.
Here is a not awful intro to hemispheric specialization for those that want to do their homework before answering.
People with callostotomy surgeries (severing the corpus collosum, which connects the two cerebral hemispheres) have contribured a lot to our understanding of functional assymmetry in the hemispheres, and even have motivated some philosophers to doubt the "unity" of the subject (experimenters can induce the two sides of the brain to conflict with one another, so literally the left and right hands will be carrying out different, contradictory tasks).
Ilion is right (these are hemispherectomies), and the older you are the more likely you will suffer long term paralysis on one side of the body. These surgeries also bring up interesting questions of personal identity.
Robert missed the point.
“People with callostotomy surgeries (severing the corpus collosum, which connects the two cerebral hemispheres) have contribured a lot to our understanding of functional assymmetry in the hemispheres, and even have motivated some philosophers to doubt the "unity" of the subject (experimenters can induce the two sides of the brain to conflict with one another, so literally the left and right hands will be carrying out different, contradictory tasks).”
Perhaps you are correct, that Victor is probing this issue which as you say “motivated some philosophers to doubt the ‘unity’ of the subject”.
“Ilion is right (these are hemispherectomies), and the older you are the more likely you will suffer long term paralysis on one side of the body. These surgeries also bring up interesting questions of personal identity.”
Again, you may be correct that Victor is not focusing upon the nature of control and choice, which was the point that I was focusing upon, but more into the issue of personal identity/”unity of the subject”.
“Robert missed the point.”
I don’t think I missed the point unless the point is **solely** the issue of personal identity. I was focusing on the issues of control and the nature of free will. When I saw the opening words about the mad scientist who had control I immediately thought of Frankfurt cases and the infamous Mr. Black and hence the issues of control and free will. At this point, I am thinking that Victor may be more interested in the issues of personal identity. My point stands however, if the scientist has total and direct control over every aspect of the person, then the person being controlled continues to have no choice in the matter. This neurosurgeon may be even more insidious than the infamous Mr. Black! :-)
Robert
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