Challenges of Christian anthropology in the age of neurosciences

The article deal with problem of the soul from the perspective of the science. Its purpose is to analyze the views of Francis Crick presented in the book The Astonishing Hypothesis – The Scientific Search for the Soul. The famous Nobel Prize winner tries to refute the religious view that man has a soul by referring to the research of the human brain. Crick’s thesis is as follows: the soul hypothesis must be rejected because of mental phenomena can be explained based on the work of the neurons. The scenario adopted in this way raises some problems. Some of them are outlined in this article.

Keywords: soul, Christian anthropology, science-religion relationship, „God of the gaps”, materialism, reductionism, Francis Crick

Abstrakt

Artykuł podejmuje problem duszy w perspektywie neuronauk. Jego celem jest analiza poglądów Francisa Cricka przedstawionych w książce Zdumiewająca hipoteza, czyli nauka w poszukiwaniu duszy. Słynny noblista usiłuje obalić religijny pogląd, że człowiek posiada duszę, przez odwołanie się do badań ludzkiego mózgu. Teza Cricka jest następująca: Należy odrzucić hipotezę duszy, ponieważ wszelkie zjawiska umysłowe można wyjaśnić w oparciu o pracę neuronów. Tak przyjęty scenariusz rodzi pewne problemy. Niniejszy artykuł przedstawia niektóre z nich.

The article deal with problem of the soul from the perspective of the science. Its purpose is to analyze the views of Francis Crick presented in the book The Astonishing Hypothesis – The Scientific Search for the Soul. The famous Nobel Prize winner tries to refute the religious view that man has a soul by referring to the research of the human brain. Crick’s thesis is as follows: the soul hypothesis must be rejected because of mental phenomena can be explained based on the work of the neurons. The scenario adopted in this way raises some problems. Some of them are outlined in this article.