philosophy – The Health Care Blog

A Unified Sense of Self

Apr 17, 2026

By MIKE MAGEE

Stanford neuroscientist, David Eagleman, reminded us this week that “A coherent explanation of consciousness eludes modern science.” That was his opening line in the New York Times book review of Michael Pollan’s latest effort, “A World Appears.” In it, Pollan asks innocently, “How does the brain generate a unified sense of self?”

According to Eagleman, “Pollan is not able to furnish the answers (no one can, yet), but he presents a captivating exploration, one that is highly personal and sensitive.” In this, he is not alone. Other fields are engaged in the same pursuit.

To begin with, there are the epigeneticists. They study “how our environment influences our genes by changing the chemicals attached to them.” In the hands of these scientists, genes are not “set in stone and (fully) predetermined.” Of late, these investigators have been unraveling how various chemicals, working on the surface and inside cells are constantly altering and adjusting how our genes work. Thus the title, since “epi” is Greek for “over, outside of, around.”

Other investigators like Professor Eddy Keming Chen in the department of Philosophy at University of California San Diego come at the problem from a different direction. She bolstered her PhD in Philosophy with a Masters in Mathematical Physics, and a graduate certificate in Cognitive Science. She teaches the PHIL 130 course on Metaphysics.

In the UCSD college syllabus, she tees up the question, “Why study metaphysics?” She promises enrollees that if they sign up, they’ll find a bit of magic in exploring tough questions, like: “Do we have free will? Is it compatible with causal determinism? What is the place of the mind and of the consciousness in a physical world?”

In the Jesuit world that I came from, such courses were mandatory as part of the core curriculum. In my own alma mater, they no longer carry the same mandate, but still remain alive and well.

Consider, for example PHL 365 – a 3 credit course at LeMoyne College titled Philosophy of Mind. Once again, there is magic in the air for inquiring minds.

How to Practice Medicine in a World We Can Never Truly Understand

Nov 1, 2018

By Kent Bottles, MD

Central to the problem of how best to live in a world that we cannot understand is how to regard:

“The Extended Disorder Family (or Cluster): (i) uncertainty, (ii) variability, (iii) imperfect, incomplete knowledge, (iv) chance, (v) chaos, (vi) volatility, (vii) disorder, (viii) entropy, (ix) time, (x) the unknown, (xi) randomness, (xii) turmoil, (xiii) stressor, (xiv) error, (xv) dispersion of outcomes, (xvi) unknowledge.” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile, London: Allen Lane, 2012)

To this impressive list, I would add seventeenth and eighteenth items: failure and death. All of these characteristics scare and frighten most of us, and so we do our best to avoid them.

Despite the popularity of self-help books emphasizing the pursuit of happiness, a vocal minority has advocated embracing all of the above negative items in order to live fully and successfully.

Eric G. Wilson perhaps provides the best overview of this minority report when he observes that

“To desire only happiness in a world undoubtedly tragic is to become inauthentic, to settle for unrealistic abstractions that ignore concrete situations.”

And

“Our passion for felicity hints at an ominous hatred for all that grows and thrives and then dies.” (Eric G. Wilson, Against Happiness, New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2008)

To be alive and to realize that you are going to die means being insecure and vulnerable. According to Martha Nussbaum one should embrace this uncertainty.

Should We Sacrifice Medicine’s Sacred COW?

Oct 14, 2013• 2

By Richard Gunderman, MD

Chicago Cubs fans of a certain vintage will never forget broadcaster Harry Carey’s signature line, “Holy cow!” Some have speculated that the exclamation may have originated in Hinduism, one of the world’s major religions, whose adherents worldwide number approximately one billion. Hindus regard cows as maternal, caring figures, symbols of selfless giving in the form of milk, curds, butter, and other important products.

One of the most important figures in the faith, Krishna, is said to have been a cowherd, and one of his names, Govinda, means protector of cows. In short, cows are sacred to Hindus, and their slaughter is banned in virtually all Indian states.

Medicine, too, has its sacred cows, which are well known to physicians, nurses, and patients visited by medical teams on their hospital rounds. In this case, the cow is not an animal but a machine. In particular, it is the computer on wheels, or COW, a contraption that usually consists of a laptop computer mounted on a height-adjustable pole with a rolling base. It is used to enter, store and retrieve medical information, including patients’ diagnoses, vital signs, medications, and laboratory results, as well as to record new orders.

As the team moves from room to room and floor to floor, the COW is pushed right along. The COW is often treated with a degree of deference seemingly bordering on reverence. For one thing, people in hallways and patients’ rooms are constantly making way for the COW. As an expensive and essential piece of equipment, it is handled gingerly. Often only the senior member of the medical team or his or her lieutenant touches the COW.

Others know that they have said something important when they see the chief keyboarding the information into the COW. Sometimes it plays an almost oracular role. When questions arise to which no one knows the answer, such as the date of a patient’s admission or the time course of a fever, they often consult the COW. Just as cows wandering the streets of Indian cities often obstruct traffic, so healthcare’s COWS can and often do get in the way of good medicine. Continue reading…