CRISIS OF BRAIN AND SELF

Neuroscientific evidence requires a monistic understanding of brain/mi nd. Truly appropriating what this means confronts us with the vulnerab ility of the human condition. Camus's absurd and Tillich's despair are extreme expressions of a similar confrontation. This crisis demands a type of courage that is consistent with scientific truth and does not undermine the spiritual dimension of life. That dimension is not a se parate substance but the process by which brain/mind meaningfully wres tles aesthetic symbols, religious faith, and ethical affirmation. The validity of these activities does not depend upon human autonomy bur i nstead upon the fact that they exist. Furthermore, they constitute the self, which Dennett calls a ''center of narrative gravity.''