299

“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity

299

Self from Within:

Chapter 13 The Introspective Self

Present day physics will have to be replaced by new laws if organisms with

consciousness are to be described.

— Eugene P. Wigner, 1963 Nobel Laureate in Physics

Overview: Self can be approached from the outside and the inside. The observ-
able self can be studied through biology, behavioral science, social science, and
neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience, the branch of neuroscience that deals with
the behavioral outcome of the brain, is closest to the mind than other sciences,
though it still relies on testimonies by the subjects about their inner selves but in
fact not the inner feeling itself. The private, personal self is beyond the domain of
natural science, and can only be reached by introspection. Introspective knowl-
edge (such as the feeling of warmth rather than the rise in temperature) is less
reliable and less reproducible, but nonetheless real and immediate. At the heart
of introspection is the nature of mind and its relation with the body (or matter).
Most philosophers today accept the reality of matter and the fact that the
brain produces the mind, but the status of mind varies greatly. One school takes
mind as an illusion. Another accepts the reality of mind but treats it as a bystander,
having no effect on the brain. A third maintains that at some point mind and
matter entwine and interact, a point where mind and matter “speak a common
language.” Currently there is no known natural law that can describe the interac-
tion of mind and matter. The mind-matter conundrum remains an enigma.

13.1 “Look, How Happy the Fish Are!”

Master Zhuang and Master Hui strolled along the River Hao. Zhuang
said, “Look, how happy the fish are!” Hui said, “You are not a fish.