Speculations on Man, Mind and Matter

Abstract

Throughout this book I have tried to anchor all my assertions to some aspects of experimental “reality”. In this closing chapter I shall release this brake and speculate on the broader implications of the somatic selection hypothesis to the human condition. At the outset, two important questions can be posed: can a theory which postulates the inheritance of acquired characters resolve the perennial nature- nurture debate? More importantly, can such a theory allow a better or different approach to the mind-body problem? Whilst the theory may propose useful solutions to the first question it cannot tackle the second without delving into startling areas of the mind-body problem and plunging it into deeper obscurity.