Has science done away with the soul?

It seems natural to think of life as a story with a beginning, middle and end, a story in which we are the main protagonist. We see ourselves as unified and continuous beings journeying from a remembered past to an anticipated future; beings possessed of free will and a capacity for clear self-reflection. But research in psychology and neuroscience shows that there is no such thing as an ‘inner self’; that we are divided and discontinuous; and that free will is an illusion. We are, in short, not what we believe ourselves to be. Drawing on my work in clinical neuropsychology, and on philosophical and cultural influences as diverse as Schopenhauer and Schwarzenegger, I offer an overview of the science of selfhood and consider the question: Has science really done away with the soul?

Paul Broks is a freelance writer with a background in clinical neuropsychology and neuroscience. He gained recognition with his first book, Into the Silent Land, which mixed neurological case stories, fiction and memoir in an extended meditation on selfhood and the brain. Paul has also written for theatre and film. He co-wrote and narrated Martino Unstrung, Ian Knox’s feature documentary about the recovered-amnesic jazz guitar virtuoso, Pat Martino, and recently collaborated with Hugh Hudson (“Chariots of Fire”) and Maryam d’Abo (“The Living Daylights”) on a film about stroke survivors – Rupture: Living with a broken brain. He is also a regular contributor to WNYC’s Radiolab science show. His next book, The Scream of the Soul, will be published by Penguin and includes excursions into mythology, madness and magic as well as brain science.