The Master and His Emissary

All understanding, whether of the world or even of ourselves, depends on choosing the right metaphor.

anger.256 Anger is robustly connected with left frontal activation.257 Aggression is motivating and dopamine plays a crucial role in the rewards it offers.258

In the ‘close’ situation, by contrast, the left hemisphere

The right hemisphere sees the lower values as deriving their power from the higher ones which they serve; the left hemisphere is reductionist, and accounts for higher values by reference to lower values, its

it is not what is done, but how it is done, that distinguishes the two hemispheres,

The development of denotative language enables, not communication in itself, but a special kind of communicating, not thinking itself, but a special kind of thinking.

the main point of hemisphere difference, division versus cohesion.

we come to know in the sense of ‘cognise’ (wissen) something only by recognising (erkennen) something we already knew (kennen).

I agree with Marcel Kinsbourne that the brain is, in one sense, a system of opponent processors. In other words, it contains mutually opposed elements whose contrary influence make possible finely calibrated responses to complex situations.