Read Mind and Brain: The Genius of Fortune, now.

(Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA) - In the 1993 edition of the Great Ideas Today, the annual supplement to the Great Books series, published by the Encyclopedia Britannica, appeared a brief essay by Mortimer J.Adler, editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia Britannica, calling for an answer to the following philosophical problem: What explains superior intellectual ability, or genius? Why do the intellectual talents of some individuals differ from others? Why, in other words, is society sometimes blessed with the genius of an Albert Einstein yet often puzzled by the likes of a Forrest Gump?

During last year’s [1993] winter holiday, Bob contemplated these questions, and applying that which he learned from reading MAD magazine, among a few lighter works, he wrote a 10-page essay, entitled Mind and Brain: The Genius of Fortune, which he submitted for consideration by the editors of the Great Ideas Today. By a letter from editor Mark Van Doren, we learned to our surprise and delight that the effort was considered the best received and was deemed worthy of publication in the 1994 edition [of theGreat Ideas Today], which was released [in November, 1994].

"The challenge," said Bob, "was to explain superior intellectual ability in light of recent advances in neuroscience, including evidence that intellectual talent may be genetically inherited, and hence materially transmitted, without asserting that human intellect itself is a material substance." In the essay, Bob, applying the teachings of Aristotle, defended the existence of an immaterial soul or intellect, whichall humans possess to an equal degree, but exercise in varying degrees depending upon the extent to which their material bodies dispose them toward various capacities or talents.

Anticipating criticism likely to be drawn from the scientific community, Bob commented, "Scientists like Francis Crick and Carl Sagan believe that, if they throw enough science at you, they’ll convince you that the human soul does not exist. But the scientific community needs to fess up to the truth that they have neither evidence nor even a good explanation for the human faculty of understanding, which allows us, for example, to develop definitions. Aristotle resolved this long ago." Perhaps that acknowledgment will take a little for some, but he hopes his essay will promote an appreciation of the rigors and importance of philosophical thought.

The preceding article was originally published in The Kohn Times, a popular holiday newsletter. Copyright (c) 1994 The Kohn Family

Comments: RobtKohn@aol.com
Copyright © 1995, 1996 Bob Kohn
A Theoria Publication
(1/15/96)