Spring 1995THE SOCIAL CONTRACT 233
EMOTION, REASON,
AND THE HUMAN BRAIN
By Antonio R. Damasio
G.P. Putnam's Sons, NY, 1994
312 pages, $24.95 (Can.$32.50)
Gustav Uhlich is a retired gastroenterologist and a writer with a keen interest in the
interplay of psychology and biology.
Descarte's Error
A Book Review by Gustav A. Uhlich
Rene Descartes lived in the first part of the 17th
century in Holland. He was the leading mathematician
and philosopher of his time. What was his error, and
why should it matter to us? Damasio provides
compelling answers to both questions.
Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." Damasio
counters: "I am, therefore I think." Descartes
maintained that the essential "me" โ the soul, the
spirit, the mind โ is entirely distinct from our body
and in no way connected to our
biological make-up. Damasio sets
out to prove the opposite.
In Part I of the book we are
introduced to the clinical evidence
linking patterns of behavior to the
anatomical structure and functional
organization of the central nervous
system. The fascinating case
history of one Phineas P. Gage, a 25-year-old railroad
construction foreman, sets the stage for exploring the
results of traumatic brain damage. In the summer of
1848, while blasting his way through the rocky terrain
of Vermont, Phineas had the misfortune of prematurely
setting off an explosion. A three-foot-long iron rod shot
through his skull. Miraculously, Phineas survived, but
he was not the same man he had been before. A
contemporary report attests to his rather complete
physical recovery; however, his "equilibrium or
balance, so to speak, between his intellectual capacity
and animal propen-sities" had been destroyed. As a
result, he lost the ability to plan his future as a social
being. He lost his job, and died in 1861. His punctured
skull was pre-served at Boston's Harvard Medical
School Museum.
Damasio, with the help of modern computer
technology, is able to reconstruct the extent of frontal
lobe damage suffered by Gage. The devastating
consequences of Gage's acquired "character disorder"
bring to mind a few disturbing questions. "There are
many Gages around us, people whose fall from social
grace is disturbingly similar. Some have brain damage
consequent to brain tumors, or head injury, or other
neurological disease. Yet some have had no overt
neurological disease and they still behave like Gage. If
we are to solve humanely the problems they pose, we
need to understand the nature of these human beings
whose actions can be destructive to themselves and to
others. Neither incarceration nor the death penalty โ
among the responses that society currently offers for
those individuals โ contribute to our understanding or
solve the problem." What best can help us to solve
social problems โ that is the question.
Part II of the book is devoted to the search for
intelligent answers. What allows humans to behave
rationally? How does the normal brain work? Damasio
is careful in delineating the scope of his undertaking
and in noting the speculative nature of some of his
contentions. His hypotheses are based on careful
observation of some 1800 patients
studied at his laboratories at the
University of Iowa over a period
of 17 years. The difference
between science and mere
philosophy deserves attention. The
pursuit of both requires
imagination, creativity, and
inventiveness. Science, in addition,
demands reproducible observations and experimental
verification before a hypothesis can claim credibility.
Philosophy and religion are not hampered by such
restraints. Their credibility is based primarily on the
prestige of the prophet and the emotional impact of the
message. In the case of Descartes, a multitude of true
believers still populates the earth in spite of what we
know, or should know, about neurobiology.
The sheer multitude of facts and opinions
presented by Damasio may at times confuse the reader.
Careful attention to the definition of terms used
throughout the text is essential to an understanding of
Damasio's line of reasoning. On page 86, for instance,
we are informed, "Whenever I refer to the body, I mean
the organism minus the neural tissue (the central and
peripheral components of the nervous system),
although in the conventional sense the brain is also part
of the body." Why then this unorthodox definition of
body? Because there are creatures that have a body but
no brain โ bacteria and amoeba, for instance. They are
located rather low on the rungs of evolution, but they
do play an important role in the overall scheme of
things. A listing at the beginning or end of the book of
such unconventional definitions, as well as of newly
developed concepts, would prove helpful. It is not lack
of clarity on part of the author, but the complexity of
the subject matter under discussion that requires the
utmost concentration on the part of the reader, who
from the beginning is expected to be "curious,
intelligent and wise."
Helpful diagrams are provided throughout the
