Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T20:04:51.874Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Split Brains and Atomic Persons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

James Moor
James Moor*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy Dartmouth College
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many have claimed that split-brain patients are actually two persons. I maintain that both the traditional separation argument and the more recent sophistication argument for the two persons interpretation are inadequate on conceptual grounds. An autonomy argument is inadequate on empirical grounds. Overall, theoretical and practical consequences weigh heavily in favor of adopting a one person interpretation.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , March 1982, pp. 91 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

†

I am indebted to many for comments and criticisms on this paper. In particular, I thank James Bernat, Charles Culver, Michael Gazzaniga, Joseph LeDoux, Charles Marks, Alexander Reeves, Donald Wilson and the journal referees.

References

REFERENCES

Akelaitis, A. (1944), “A Study of Gnosis, Praxis and Language Following Section of the Corpus Callosum and Anterior Commissure.” Journal of Neurosurgery 1: 94–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogen, J. (1969a), “The Other Side of the Brain I: Dysgraphia and Dyscopia Following Cerebral Commissurotomy.” Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society 34: 73–105.Google Scholar
Bogen, J. (1969b), “The Other Side of the Brain II: An Appositional Mind.” Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society 34: 135–162.Google Scholar
Bogen, J. (1977), “Further Discussion on Split-Brains and Hemispheric Capabilities.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 28: 281–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogen, J. and Bogen, G. (1969), “The Other Side of the Brain III: The Corpus Callosum and Creativity.” Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society 34: 191–220.Google Scholar
Bogen, J., DeZure, R., Tentouten, W. and Marsh, J. (1972), “The Other Side of the Brain IV: The A/P Ratio.” Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society 37: 49–61.Google ScholarPubMed
DeWitt, L. (1975), “Consciousness, Mind, and Self: The Implications of the Split-Brain Studies.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 26: 41–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimond, S. (1972), The Double Brain. Baltimore: The Williams & Wilkins Company.Google Scholar
Ferrell, R., Culver, C. and Tucker, G. (submitted), “Psycho-Social and Cognitive Function after Commissurotomy for Intractable Seizure.”Google Scholar
Gazzaniga, M. (1970), The Bisected Brain. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Gazzaniga, M. (1978), “On Dividing the Self: Speculations from Brain Research.” In W. den Hartog Jager, G. Bruyn and A. Heijstee (eds.). Neurology. Proceedings of the 11th World Congress of Neurology, Amsterdam, September 11–16, 1977. International Congress Series No. 434. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, 233–244.Google Scholar
Gazzaniga, M., Bogen, J. and Sperry, R. (1965), “Observations on Visual Perception after Disconnexion of the Cerebral Hemispheres in Man.” Brain 88: 221–236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gazzaniga, M. and LeDoux, J. (1978), The Integrated Mind. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gazzaniga, M., LeDoux, J. and Wilson, D. (1977), “Language, Praxis, and the Right Hemisphere: Clues to Some Mechanisms of Consciousness.” Neurology 27: 1144–1147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gazzaniga, M., Volpe, B., Smylie, C., Wilson, D. and LeDoux, J. (1979), “Plasticity in Speech Organization Following Commissurotomy.” Brain 102: 805–815.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geschwind, N. (1965), “Disconnexion Syndromes in Animals and Man.” Brain 88: 237–294; 585–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, H., Bogen, J. and Sperry, R. (1971), “Absence of Deconnexion Syndrome in Two Patients with Partial Section of the Neocommissures.” Brain 94: 327–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LeDoux, J., Wilson, D. and Gazzaniga, M. (1977), “A Divided Mind: Observations on the Conscious Properties of the Separated Hemispheres.” Annals of Neurology 2: 417–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, J., Trevarthen, C. and Sperry, R. (1972), “Perception of Bilateral Chimeric Figures Following Hemispheric Deconnexion.” Brain 95: 61–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margolis, J. (1975), “Puccetti on Brains, Minds, and Persons.” Philosophy of Science 42: 275–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, C. (1980), Commissurotomy Consciousness and Unity of Mind. Montgomery, Vermont: Bradford Books, Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. (1971), “Brain Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness.” Synthese 22: 396–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puccetti, R. (1973a), “Brain Bisection and Personal Identity.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 24: 339–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puccetti, R. (1973b), “Multiple Identity.” Personalist 54: 203–215.Google Scholar
Puccetti, R. (1975), “A Reply to Professor Margolis.” Philosophy of Science 42: 281–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puccetti, R. (1976), “The Mute Self: A Reaction to Dewitt's Alternative Account of the Split-Brain Data.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 27: 65–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puccetti, R. (1977a), “Robinson on My Views: A Correction.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 28: 171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puccetti, R. (1977b), “Sperry on Consciousness: A Critical Appreciation.” The Journal of Philosophy of Medicine 2: 127–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, G. and Gazzaniga, M. (1978), “Well-kept Secrets of the Right Hemisphere: A Carotid Amytal Study of Restricted Memory Transfer.” Neurology 28: 950–953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, D. (1976), “What Sort of Persons are Hemispheres? Another Look at ‘Split-Brain’ Man.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 27: 73–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaffer, J. (1977), “Personal Identity: The Implications of Brain Bisection and Brain Transplants.” The Journal of Philosophy of Medicine 2: 147–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sperry, R. (1966), “Brain Bisection and Mechanisms of Consciousness.” In J. Eccles (ed.) Brain and Conscious Experience. New York: Springer-Verlag, 298–313.Google Scholar
Sperry, R. (1968), “Hemisphere Deconnection and Unity in Conscious Awareness.” American Psychologist 23: 723–733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sperry, R. (1970), “Perception in the Absence of the Neocortical Commissures.” Research Publications Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease 48: 123–138.Google ScholarPubMed
Sperry, R. (1977a), “Forebrain Commissurotomy and Conscious Awareness.” The Journal of Philosophy of Medicine 2: 101–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sperry, R. (1977b), “Reply to Professor Puccetti.” The Journals of Philosophy of Medicine 2: 145–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sperry, R., Zaidel, E. and Zaidel, D. (1979), “Self Recognition and Social Awareness in the Deconnected Minor Hemisphere.” Neuropsychologia 17: 153–166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Wagenen, W. and Herren, R. (1940), “Surgical Division of Commissural Pathways in the Corpus Callosum.” Archives of Neurological Psychiatry 44: 740–759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkes, K. (1978), “Consciousness and Commissurotomy.” Philosophy 53: 185–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D., Culver, C., Waddington, M. and Gazzaniga, M. (1975), “Disconnection of the Cerebral Hemispheres.” Neurology 25: 1149–1153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, D., Reeves, A., Gazzaniga, M. and Culver, C. (1977), “Cerebral Commissurotomy for Control of Intractable Seizures.” Neurology 27: 708–715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, D., Reeves, A., and Gazzaniga, M. (1978), “Division of the Corpus Callosum for Uncontrollable Epilepsy.” Neurology 28: 649–653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, D., Reeves, A., Gazzaniga, M. and O'Leary, R. (submitted), “Microsurgical Division of the Corpus Callosum for the Control of Intractable Epilepsy: Evolution of the Operation, Present Technique, and Analysis of Fourteen Consecutive Cases.”Google Scholar
Zaidel, D. and Sperry, R. (1974), “Memory Impairment After Commissurotomy in Man.” Brain 97: 263–272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zaidel, E. (1976), “Auditory Vocabulary in the Right Hemisphere Following Brain Bisection and Hemidecortication.” Cortex 12: 191–211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed