INTRODUCTION
Photo by Rachel Berman |
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There was a time not too long ago when I thought that the universe, and the foundations of
behavior lied in the most fundamental matter from which it was comprised. Studying chemistry meant getting a step closer to
understanding the universe. As I went though my journey in college I started to go through
a sort of an evolution of the self. |
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It was the first day in my Neurobiology and Behavior class, my professor held up a brain and asked what we thought of the
idea that brain and behavior are equal. Many spoke of religious beliefs and the notions of
the mind and the soul, which cannot be explained by the physical, which is the brain. I
remember feeling a sense of superiority…I was a true scientist, I knew better. In
fact this is my first response entry written in that class: |
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"As was mentioned in class, epilepsy was viewed as a form or spirit possession and
during that time if anyone made the assertion that the brain controls this phenomenon,
that individual would be deemed “crazy.” For someone like myself, who began to
question the entire scheme of the universe from the beginning of abyss to the present,
that was nicely laid out for me by my Rabbi, it is quite natural to accept the
“brain=behavior” model primarily for the fact that overwhelming scientific
evidence pinpoints the brain as controlling a wide range of behaviors that were previously
explained by some other concepts, such as God. If, in fact, scientists will some day be
able to connect all sorts of behaviors to the brain and no other concept will be needed,
(even behaviors such as love that many seem to be uncomfortable viewing as a mere series
of chemical reactions because it
“takes away” from the feeling itself), that does not make us any less
human or unable to feel. Nor does it make life any less exciting, simply
understandable." |
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Photo by Rachel Berman
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Its funny I mentioned love when I wrote this entry because almost three years after it,
this was the very topic I was preoccupied with. Whether it was because I thought that I
experienced it and lost it or because my intellectual life as a chemist was boring me, I
had a strange feeling of utter emptiness. I was looking for something...something that
would have meaning, something that would inspire me. |
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The last thing in my life which inspired me was love. So perhaps by learning about it I
could somehow rekindle that inspiration or make sense of what happened to me. The first
thing which probably emerged was my training as a chemist. I was going to define the
system in question and then study it. My advisor, Dr. Paul
Grobstein, gave the best characterization of this “syndrome.” He called it
“intellectual schizophrenia.” I definitely had two opposite sides to my
intellectual inquiries. One had to do with what I thought was proper science, the inquiry
concerned with the “right” answer. That is, anything a scientist says should be
possible to rephrase as a summary of well defined observations. The other part of me was
concerned with concepts that mattered to me. These were abstract concepts such as love and
art. What I had to do for the first time in my life is try to put the two together. |
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Photo by Rachel Berman |
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I started out reading all sorts of things about love, and there is so much!
Poets, neurobiologists, and just about any person on the net had something to say on this
topic. I tried to narrow my search by looking
at articles written by PhD’s. Propositions stating that “The cerebellum [is] the
principle structure involved in mediation of an abnormal-social behaviors of mother
deprived monkeys…” appealed to me. However, I realized two things during my
primary endeavors. First, just because someone has a Ph.D may not mean much about the type
of research performed. Secondly, anyone identifying a certain brain structure as the only
determinate of a complex behavior is likely to be full of it. |
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The first step to unifying the two sides of my "intellectual schizophrenia" was
to realize that love is a human concept, a characteristic of a human language. When you
give something a noun it carries the implication that it is a unitary thing. This is the
idea expressed in the opening poem. One reason science is
able to shed light on things is because it breaks them down. What I needed to do was to
take the concept apart.I had to rephrase my original question which frankly now seems
rather absurd: What is love? |
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If I was to be scientific about this matter at all, I had to
break it apart and learn about the pieces. So the way to make sense of it was not to take
it in isolation but figure out where it sits in a broader context, then try and make sense
of the broader context. Thus, the goal became to find small questions using
“systems” in which pieces of the human concept of love emerge. These systems are
not limited. In fact, the first I choose was drugs. I was reading an article on Ecstasy, a drug
which produces various feelings associated with love, and decided to study the drug
itself. Next, I had to figure out what is solid in the chosen systems…maybe then I
could form some conclusions and relate them back to the broader context of this “urge to being and to be love”...whatever that may be. |
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| There are essentially six parts to this project: |
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Photo by Rachel Berman |
Part 1 deals with
the chemical effects on interpersonal relations. Here the effects of Ecstasy are examined.
Also, summaries of the theories of pheromone release as related to synchronization
of menstrual cycle in human females as well as the “love chemicals” used by
various insects to govern their social behaviors are provided. |
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Photo courtesy of
Corbis.com
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In Part 2, I
examine the contradictions that arise when one solely considers the chemicals as
accounting for effects of Ecstasy, as well as Prozac,
which is examined in context of depression. I start out by pointing out our current
awareness of the state of depression, the medium of Prozac’s operation. Also, I
present some of the contradicting issues which arise from implications of what we know and
what we do not know about the state of depression and the medium of its conduction - the
nervous system. I will make the argument that knowing chemicals and neurotransmitters is
not enough. Also, an alternative hypothesis
originally proposed by Peter Kramer in Listening
to Prozac is explored. This is the notion that there are brain areas concerned
with interpersonal relations. |
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Isle of Alone Soul
Photo
courtesy of Community Webshots |
Part 3 is
somewhat of a test of Kramer’s thesis. That is, if we assume that there actually
exist specific brain areas concerned with interpersonal relations, a good thought
experiment would be to examine cases when a person is incapable of having such relations.
I do this through the exploration of a neurobiological disorder known as Autism. |
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Photo courtesy of Corbis.com |
Part 4 entertains
the notion that the evolutionary sequences in human beings produced a brain organization
which promotes “the urge to love.” In this discussion, I examine the
"problem of altruism" in relation to brain organization: even if there was a
gene accounting for self-sacrificing behaviors, it would make sense that the individual
species possessing it would die out. Various theories as to why this is not the case, such
as the Darwinian reproductive success model, are explored. Alternative ways of examining
the phenomenon of altruism as applied to human beings are then proposed. |
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 Apparation of Face and Fruit Dish on a
Beach by Salvador Dali
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In Part 5, the dream state is used as a system through which the
standardization of dream symbolism as well as various theories of dreams are examined.
From the observations of this system, as well as our previous inquiries in the first four
parts, I will develop a model of the working of the brain which will be extended to
original question about the nature of interpersonal relations. |
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Vase
Illusion |
In Part 6, I present
my conclusions about the workings of the brain and implications for the broader picture of
interpersonal relations and the “urge to love.” |
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Index
Introduction Part1
Part2 Part3
Part4 Part5
Part6 |
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