Professor Barnes and Secularism

...Barnes the only explanation which has hitherto occupied the field...

...He continues .9 Psychology, founded upon physiology, neurology and sound methods of investigation . . . has established the fundamental physico-chemical relationships between mind and body and has completely discredited the older spirit- istic interpretations...

...In his final experiments on the plant Bryophyllura caIycinura he made a num- ber of observations which might be summed up by orderly, elaborate, and species...

...Galen in the second century associated disorders in the brain with distur- bances of the mental functions that occur in mania and breathing...

...Jacques Loeb exercised his ingenuity in trying to establish a mechanistic conception of life...

...Such an assertion is un-worthy a man of science...

...There is abundance of speculation, but few facts...

...The words "secularism" and "supernatural camp" are rather hazy...

...he is rather too apodictic about the security of his position...

...the pituitary probably regulates growth, the lack of certain unde- fined chemical substances results in various diseases, such as rickets, pellagra, scurvy, xeropthalmia, and the ultra-violet rays have an effect on physiological processes...

...If such exact and scientific knowledge were in existence, it would express itself intelligibly, and not rest behind a cloak of foggy phraseology...

...The designation physico- chemical is modern, but the philosophic concept and the recognition of this kind of intimate relationship has nothing new to offer...

...Anyone who has followed the experiments of Dr...

...Thomas Aquinas assigned different men-tal faculties to the three vesicles of the brain...

...A minute mass of protoplasm develops into differentiated structures of the greatest complexity and variety of functions...

...The entire subject abounds in mys- tery...

...The first part of this statement is true : but how can anyone with more than a superficial knowledge of the unconscious say that it presents "no element of mystification...

...as a basis of philosophical speculation it has no value whatever...

...Apart from mere de-scription or allegorical hypothesis, what explanation can be offered by the "tapping" of the unconscious mind in hypnotism...

...These are some of the results of physiologi- cal research...

...The reader of popu- lar magazines can very readily get the idea that the "unconscious mind" is a simple conception which ex-plains the mysteries of life, but it does not appear such to the scientist or the philosopher...

...Does he mean to imply that such "devout scientists" as find that their solutions of life problems are in harmony with orthodoxy are not intellectually honest...

...They cannot make an adjustment to the whole, until they have divested themselves of this bias...

...Those who wish to believe with Dr...

...To what extent, it may be asked, do these researches penetrate...

...we have only mastered some details of the mechanism...

...Whence comes the fantastic "censor" of which Freud speaks...

...The physical stimulus may be the same in both cases, but the experience which follows is quite different...

...But there are electrical variations in injured tissue, in the nerve with the passage of a nerve impulse, in the body when emotion is experienced...

...The structural arrangement of a given organ, adapted to a particular function, is different from that of the other organs of the body, but with minor variations is the same in all the members of a species...

...Is there not occasionally a dawn, in whose mature light we are able to cease groping and make an adjust- ment which rests on knowledge ? Unquestionably there are many who have preconceived notions that the facts of life and life's experiences can be explained by pure mechanism...

...What does physiology tell us about the nature of death...

...Morton Prince in this field will find much that is "mystifying...

...The mechanistic interpreta- tion of life processes is a pure hypothesis...

...If solid science has anything unorthodox to offer, it surely would be found in biology, comparative morphology, physiologic chemistry, psychology or pathology...

...Barnes has yet to go through this experience...

...The late Dr...

...This doubt thrown on a view for a long time accepted was confirmed by the experimental studies of Franz and Stout...

...In the following paper Dora IValsh, of 8aint dnselm's Priory, examines some o[ the evidence underlying the discussion...

...The processes of embryological development, by which a fertilized cell divides, subdivides and differen- tiates, are still a marvel...

...But assuming that such a guess should be correct, the result would be simply to raise the issue: What is the force that maintains the molecular spatial arrangement in the living body...

...They have not the time, the opportunity and sometimes the intel- ligence to look further...

...The researches have not penetrated as far as Dr...

...the scientist realizes the worth and the limitations of a hypothesis...

...Attention is pur-posely concentrated upon the chemical and biological sciences, about which there has been so very much glib talk...

...These conceptions appear fantastic perhaps in the light of modern science, but the difference is rather in the detailed knowledge than in basic conception...

...Dr...

...Modern research has not thrown any light on the chemical nature of this life process...

...Professor Robinson, in his essay, The Mind in the Making, says that most of our thinking consists of producing arguments to prove that deep- rooted convictions, sometimes based on prejudice, are right...

...Evi-dently in reading Pawlow and Watson he has not brought to bear the critical meticulousness of the scien- tific mind...

...The views which I ex-press must stand or fall not by the weight of my authority, but by the weight of the sources to which I refer and the accepted canons of science...

...Are the innate ideas so cavalierly rejected by Dr...

...Barnes would have the reader believe...

...Hans Driesch, who has spent a lifetime, not in historical sociology but in biological research, has devoted two volumes to the development of the thesis that a study of the life processes necessitates the assumption of a vital principle...

...Do these observations throw any light on the internal mechanisms which produced the growth of the plant and the pattern of the leaves, well-organized as they are, specific for each variety or Dr...

...Not a few biologists, finding the mechanistic interpretation unsatisfactory, have been forced to pos- tulate the existence of a vital principle, and some posit a kind of directive "nisus" in all nature to which, accepting what Alexander has called "natural piety," with Professor Morgan, they give the name of God...

...It has raised more problems than it has solved...

...Why, as in the case of pathological association de- scribed by Dr...

...Have they taught us anything of the essen-tial nature of the growth process, or its chemical char- acter...

...Most text-books leave the reader under the impression that this issue is settled...

...The researches of chemistry and physiology have produced much valuable information about the conditions under which life processes are maintained and deranged, but they have contributed very little toward the solution of the problem of life and death...

...We venture the suggestion that Dr...

...For these simple experiences, physi- ological psychology has no ultimate explanation...

...From the environment, the physical and chemical conditions, we may make a judgment of the future growth of a plant, its extent and direction, but these facts by no means manifest the inner mechanisms and principles of growth...

...But do these facts tell us anything about the chemical nature of death ? We may speculate and say that the difference between a living and a dead cell lies in the difference in molecular arrangement...

...Barnes tells us that physiological psychology finally disproves any such notion as the metaphysical soul and the continuance of psychic life after the brain has ceased to function in a chemical fashion...

...Why should anyone on the thread of shaky hypotheses destroy their hope for another life where the valleys shall be filled, the hills brought low and crooked ways made straight...

...Because it has been shown by the valuable investigations of these men that some human and ani- mal behavior can be accounted for on the principles of the conditioned response, does it follow that our whole set of reaction-patterns in life are the product of conditioned responses...

...Dr...

...We are no nearer the solu- tion of the problem...

...A recapitulation of the field of knowledge, after the painful ordeal of putting aside the vesture in which we have grown old (although we call it modern) will help toward a judgment unhampered by prejudice...

...Barnes close their eyes to facts...

...PROFESSOR BARNES AND SECULARISM By FRANCIS AUGUSTINE WALSH I N THE March number of Current History Professor Barnes has announced that "he is will- ing to defend secularism against all comers from the supernatural camp...

...he certainly thought of becoming a priest and adhered to the Catholic faith...

...but I under-stand by this statement that Conflicts between science and religion may be old fashioned, but they are not abating...

...To answer in the affirmative is putting it mildly, a rash assertion...

...But to imply that it was left to modern times to discover these fundamental relation- ships is highly objectionable...

...Lactic acid accu- mulates after death, and physico-chemical changes oc- cur producing the condition known as rigor mortis...

...A great amount of labor has been expended on the relation of the chemistry of the blood to mental disorders, but with no conclusive result...

...Does not the phenomenon of conversion sometimes come to persons in adult life...

...How then can we say that physiological psychology has finally disproved any such notion as the "metaphysical soul," since this assertion implies that physiological psychology offers an adequate explanation not only of the simpler types of experience but of all the more complex forms...

...If I perceive that it was done accidentally, there is no emotion...

...I experience pain...

...Is it some metaphysical entity...

...Studying the literature of the dementias, the psychoses and other designations of the various forms of insanity, what answer do we find to the problem of the fundamental physico-chemical relationships of mind and body...

...They have to...

...The famous Johannes Miiller is called the father of mod- ern physiology...

...Is science made up of facts or based on facts, or is it a body of theories and hypotheses set out to destroy someone's conception of orthodoxy...

...Absolutely none...

...Plato two thousand years ago assigned mental faculties to parts of the body, placing concupiscence in the liver, irascibility in the heart and reason in the brain...

...Of him, Garrison's History of Medi- cine says: "He was equally eminent in biology, com-parative morphology, physiologic chemistry, psychol- ogy and pathology...

...Modern science has given us many details of the physico-chemical activities co6rdinated with mental life which were impossible to conceive before these investi- gations were made...

...Is this form of prejudice found only on the "orthodox" side...

...Barnes asks the Catholics and the fundamental- ists of the Protestant persuasion to "point to a single devout scientist whose researches dealt with problems which might directly jeopardize the standing of ortho- doxy...

...If we accept the Freudian concep- tion of dream interpretation as wish fulfilments, how can we account for the fact that they are clothed in symbolism...

...Crile has shown that there occur electri-cal variations in the body with the onset of death...

...I shall not attempt a panoramic survey of biblical criticism, astrophysics, astronomy, chemistry, history, sociology and physics...

...Its use is as an approach to the solution of scientific problems...

...If there is any relationship that was thought well established it is that between the brain (motor area) and locomo- tion or muscular activity...

...Why herald the solution of the prob- lem, when we are not yet able to express mental dis- orders in precise physico-chemical terms...

...What has happened to it that it has ceased to function...

...It is true that scientific research has deter- mined to a large extent the physical and chemical conditions which are favorable to the forms of life with which we are acquainted...

...However, in the interests of fair play and in the true spirit of science, educators should not present mere suppositions to the reading public as fact and truth...

...Another point on which it is necessary to get away from handbooks of psychology and physiology, and trace the literature and work done in a more thorough way, is the localization of functions in the brain...

...Again suppose someone steps on my foot...

...It does not tell us, for example, how a nerve impulse produced by light strik- ing the eye, setting up a chemical reaction and trans- mitted to the brain becomes the experience of redness or greenness, or whatever color it may be...

...if I perceive that it was done maliciously, I become angry...

...Many of us have had the painful experience of having to liberate ourselves from convic- tions to which we once firmly adhered, and to seek judgment without bias...

...Recently pronounce- ments by Harry Elmer Barnes have made that point, at least, decidedly clear...

...It is to be hoped that scientific research will some day establish the fundamental physico-chemical relation- ship between mind and body...

...Dr...

...But he went beyond his data...

...His researches surely dealt with problems "which might directly jeopardize the standing of orthodoxy"--if the facts in the case were of that character...

...That many people accept "orthodoxy" on a tradi-tional basis, is evident...

...I do not know how "devout" he was...

...Barnes is positive that "our whole set of reac- tion.patterns in life are the products of the conditioned responses built up through our life experiences...

...Cases are on record in which the entire motor area of the human brain was destroyed and the patients were not only able to raise themselves and stand, but by a laborious dragging of the previ- ously paralyzed leg could move forward in all direc- tions...

...It is not my purpose to present arguments in behalf of vitalism, but only to show that the sweeping statement of Dr...

...They tell us that there is a motor area which controls the motor activities of the body, a centre of speech, one of hearing, another for audi- tory images, one for visual images, and areas where the higher thought processes are elaborated...

...Dr...

...To know the prerequisite conditions of causa- tion does not mean that we have an understanding of the causative force itself...

...They know certain great facts, that men live, cherish ideals and hopes, and die...

...He was scientific, orthodox and honest...

...We are no better off than the thousands who know how to drive an automobile but know nothing of its engine...

...What masks the desires of the sleeper in symbolism...

...saying that the extent and direction of growth in the plant are determined by physical and chemical condi- tions in the environment...

...Barnes seems to be quite sure in all these departments of investigation, while the best I have been able to do is to seek light from workers in the fields of biology, physiology and psychology...

...We endorse Dora 147alsh's competence and in-tegrity whole-heartedly, and we commend this article to the attention o[ our readers.--The Editors...

...William Healy, does the drive lose its intensity when the unconscious association has been revealed to consciousness...

...Assuming that this explanation is correct--which is open to question--are not the mechanisms them- selves mystifying...

...But when in an author like yon Monakow we find on record many cases where the various areas were destroyed without loss of the corresponding psychic function, our too easily yielded certainty is shattered...

...Barnes is ready to defend views summed up under the title, Orthodox Belief Incompatible with Science...

...no sound theology has anything to fear from such scientific knowledge...

...We have learned in recent years that certain amino acids are necessary for growth and that salt metabolism is affected by the secretions of the endocrine glands...

...Barnes has no foundation in fact...

...Will he kindly favor us with his evidences of disproof ? Has he any facts to offer ? With all due reverence to- ward the achievements of physiological psychology, it does not give us a satisfactory explanation of the simplest forms of experience...

...Barnes states that psychology has revealed the great importance of the un- conscious in mental life and emotional response, though it has divested the unconscious of any element of mystery or mystification...

...That modern psychology has contributed anything affecting seriously the problem of the fundamental physico-chemical relationships between mind and body is not borne out by facts...

...It sounds simple enough when normal behavior reac- tions, states of mind, and abnormalities of behavior are explained in terms of unconscious mental mechan- ism...

...But do these facts bring us any nearer to the solution of the problem of the chemical nature of life and death...

...Some years ago the Vogts, on the basis of histological investigation, called into question the widely accepted anatomical definiteness of the cerebral areas controlling certain muscles of the body...

...We know that the thyroid plays an important part in metabolism...

...Now I am not a master of science in every field, and perhaps, in the modern usage of the term, I am not a scientist at all...

...Professor Barnes writes: Physiology, acting in co6peration with chemistry, has recently made penetrating researches into the whole prob- lem of the chemical nature of life and death...

...on the contrary, a clear-cut philosophy of human person- ality has much to hope...