Making Spirit Matter - by Larry Sommer McGrath (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The problem of the relation between mind and brain has been among the most persistent in modern Western thought, one that even recent advances in neuroscience haven't been able to put to rest. Historian Larry McGrath's Making Spirit Matter is about how a particularly productive and influential generation of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French thinkers attempted to answer this puzzle by showing the mutual dependence of spirit and matter. The veritable revolution taking place across disciplines, from philosophy to psychology, located our spiritual powers in the brain and offered a radical reformulation of the meaning of science, spirit, and the self. Pulling out connections between thinkers such as Bergson, Blondel, and FouilleáI p1 se, among others, McGrath plots the intellectual movements that brought back to life themes of agency, time, and experience by putting into action the very sciences that seemed to undermine metaphysics and theology. In so doing, Making Spirit Matter lays bare the long legacy of this moment in the history of ideas and how it might renew our understanding of the relationship between mind and brain"--

Book Synopsis

The connection between mind and brain has been one of the most persistent problems in modern Western thought; even recent advances in neuroscience haven't been able to explain it satisfactorily. Historian Larry Sommer McGrath's Making Spirit Matter studies how a particularly productive and influential group of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French thinkers attempted to solve this puzzle by showing the mutual dependence of spirit and matter. The scientific revolution taking place at this point in history across disciplines, from biology to psychology and neurology, located our mental powers in the brain and offered a radical reformulation of the meaning of society, spirit, and the self. Tracing connections among thinkers such as Henri Bergson, Alfred Fouillée, Jean-Marie Guyau, and others, McGrath plots alternative intellectual movements that revived themes of creativity, time, and experience by applying the very sciences that seemed to undermine metaphysics and religion. Making Spirit Matter lays out the long legacy of this moment in the history of ideas and how it might renew our understanding of the relationship between mind and brain today.

Review Quotes

"Making Spirit Matter is a tremendously useful book for historians of nineteenth-century French thought who will find here a nuanced survey of French ideas not easily reduced to the usual tripartite divisions between spiritualist, neo-Kantian, and positivist camps."-- "H-France"

"An excellent account of French spiritualism. . . McGrath has assembled a plentiful, wide-ranging bibliography of sources (including unpublished files) on both the political and intellectual context of the Third Republic (e.g., Bergson and his wide circle, including Lachelier, Boutroux, Blondel, Le Roy, Fouillé, and Jean Marie Guyau). He lays the authors' ideas out for us skillfully and without falling into mere descriptive juxtaposition."-- "Isis"

"A tour-de-force intellectual history that studies one of the most enduring problems in Western thought, namely, connecting the processes of the mind with the anatomical brain. . . . This book will appeal to scholars of modern French thought, historians of science, and humanists seeking to enrich their account of the human spirit."-- "Choice"

"Ever since Descartes tore apart the metaphysical bond between mind and world--between res cogitans and res extensa--philosophers and scientists have been pondering the question of how the wound might be healed. In this fascinating and carefully researched study, McGrath explores how thinkers offered new answers to this old puzzle, and how the threadbare idea of spirit found a new and more respectable incarnation in the scientific languages of neurology and psychology. A truly fascinating chapter in the intellectual history of modern France."-- "Peter E. Gordon, Harvard University"

"In this deeply researched, intellectually pioneering, and wonderfully stimulating new study, McGrath shows that Henri Bergson hoped to renovate his tradition of French spiritualism for a new age, and drew on cutting-edge natural scientific findings to do so. Making Spirit Matter is a scholarly triumph, relevant for how humanists negotiate their own relationship to natural science today."-- "Samuel Moyn, Yale University"

About the Author

Larry Sommer McGrath leads ethnographic research for technology and life science organizations. He has taught anthropology, history, and philosophy at Wesleyan University and Johns Hopkins University.