PHL240H1 Lecture Notes - Thought Experiment, John Locke, Personal Identity
Document Summary
Nagel non science fictional version of a thought experiment. Data about the human brain brain divided into 2 cerebral hemispheres (left and right), connected by a band of tissue. See section 2 and the footnotes for these details. Information flow between the 2 brain hemispheres stops when the band of tissue connecting them is severed. Page 232 nagel describes some of the things observed. Split brain patient cannot distinguish a continuous from a discontinuous line. Nagel points out many the researchers took the data to show that these patients had 2 independent streams of consciousness. Each hemisphere seems to have its own impulses to act, perceptions, experiences, separate chain of memories. Splitting of 2 distinct streams of consciousness. Sperry s thought is that we enjoy a single stream of consciousness, but if we were to have our brain split we would have 2 separate streams of consciousness without knowing that we do.
