16 – 20 May, 2011
Iain McGilchrist
The Two Grounds of Being: the conflict and resolution of two ways of being that originate in our divided brains
This course is open for bookings.
This course is based on Iain McGilchrist’s book “The Master and His Emissary” which was published last year and immediately attracted widespread acclaim and interest.
Iain’s extensive research, that spans neurology, psychiatry, philosophy and history, has led him to a new understanding of how our brains have shaped the way we relate to the world around us and its implications for our culture now and in the future. It moves beyond an unsophisticated “right and left brain” model to enquire into the role and importance of logical thought, intuition and holistic worldviews.
Iain will look at the possible explanations for the divided nature of the brain, its consequences for the conscious mind, and the light that can be thrown on the great questions of philosophy by a proper understanding of the reasons for this bipartite structure of the world as we experience it. He will also look at the way in which the battles between the twin parts of the divided brain have manifested themselves in the history of Western Civilisation.
College faculty will join the course to discuss how Iain’s research can shed light on the challenges of our time: in a world which we now know is so interconnected, can our brains learn to see the whole picture as well as the detail? What would it take to shift the balance?
This course is for scientists, artists, educators and all those with an interest in understanding our brains and how they relate to our world views.
Monday evening
Setting the background: a personal journey from literature via philosophy to medicine, and how a dissatisfaction with our accounts of literature led to a concern with the enigma of the divided brain.
Tuesday
What does the scientific evidence tell us about the differences in neuropsychological function between the cerebral hemispheres?
The nature of language and music, how they may have originated, and how they relate to the differing ways in which the hemispheres function.
Wednesday
The implications of hemisphere difference for our view of the world, its relevance to certain developments in the history of philosophy, and its significance for our priorities and values.
What is known of the relationship between the hemispheres, how this tends to alter the ‘balance of power’ between the two hemispheres, and consequently our view of the world.
Thursday
A lens for understanding the shifts in the history of ideas in the West:
The Ancient World and the Renaissance.
The Enlightenment and Romanticism.
Friday
Modernism/Post-Modernism – and where to now?
Dr Iain McGilchrist is a former Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He now works privately in London. He was a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He has published original articles in a wide range of papers and journals on topics in literature, medicine and psychiatry, has published research on neuroimaging in schizophrenia, the phenomenology of schizophrenia, and other topics, and contributed to TV documentaries. His latest book, published by Yale University Press in November 2009, is The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.
£750
All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions.
For further information about Schumacher College please see About the College
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To provisionally reserve a place for 5 days, email us your contact details and the name of the course admin@schumachercollege.org.uk
We will hold the place for five working days for reservations – three weeks before a course or earlier. After five days we will automatically offer your place to someone else if we have not received your application.
