Messages from the Laboratory

On the present terms, human values become very much a problem for science, and in certain respects perhaps the most important problem today in the whole of science

Self recognition and social awareness in the deconnected minor hemisphere

Two patients with cerebral commissurotomy were tested with visual input lateralized to left or right half of the visual field by an opaque hemifield screen set in the focal plane of an optical system mounted on a scleral contact lens which allowed prolonged exposure and ocular scanning of complex visual arrays. Key personal and affect-laden stimuli along with items for assessing general social knowledgability were presented among neutral unknowns in visual arrays with 4-9 choices. Selective manual and associated emotional responses obtained from the minor hemisphere to pictures of subject's self, relatives, pets and belongings, and of public, historical and religious figures and personalities from the entertainment world revealed a characteristic social, political, personal and self-awareness comparable roughly to that of the major hemisphere of the same subject

Mente, cerebro y valores humanistas

Science is not against moral values, Beha­vioral and brain sciences do not put aside humanist values, such as freedom. Mind and consciousness are not "epiphenomena" or "by-products" of brain mechanisms. Ideas are just so real as a cell and do exert causal force. Mind and consciousness are in a position of top command and direct the nerve­impulse traffic in the brain.La ciencia no entra en contradicción con los valores. Las ciencias del comportamiento y del cerebro no eliminan los valores humanistas, como el de la libertad, ni tampoco dejan a la mente y a la conciencia como simples subproductos o epifenóme­nos de mecanismos cerebrales. Las ideas son tan reales como las neuronas y pueden tener fuerza causal. Mente y conciencia ocupan una posición de alto control sobre los procesos del cerebro

Institutions and individuals : Interaction and evolution

“The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Organization Studies, 28 (1) 2007, Copyright SAGE Publications Ltd, SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/ "The conceptualization of the relation between individual and structure is central to social science. After making some key definitions, this paper overviews some recent developments in the social theory of structure and agency, and makes a novel addition, based on a concept of habit derived from pragmatism and Veblenian institutional economics. Processes of habituation provide a mechanism of ‘reconstitutive downward causation’ where institutional circumstances may affect individual preferences. Finally, special characteristics of organizations are discussed, endorsing an evolutionary analytical approach that combines insights from both evolutionary economics and organization science.Peer reviewe