I think, therefore I am. The legendary pronouncement of philosopher René
Descartes lingers as accepted wisdom in the Western world nearly four centuries
after its author's death. But does thought really come first? Who actually runs
the show: we, our thoughts, or the neurons firing within our brains? Walter J.
Freeman explores how we control our behavior and make sense of the world around
us. Avoiding determinism both in sociobiology, which proposes that persons'
genes control their brains' functioning, and in neuroscience, which posits that
their brains' disposition is molded by chemistry and environmental forces,
Freeman charts a new course?one that gives individuals due credit and
responsibility for their actions. Drawing upon his five decades of research in
neuroscience, Freeman utilizes the latest advances in his field as well as
perspectives from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, psychology, and
philosophy to explicate how different human brains act in their chosen diverse
ways. He clarifies the implications of brain imaging, by which neural activity
can be observed during the course of normal movements, and shows how nonlinear
dynamics reveals order within the fecund chaos of brain function.