Ian McGilchrist’s interesting thesis on the reason for the plight of the modern world

Left brain thinking gone astray and being predominant is the basic reason.

McGilchrist’s book is mainly about the two brain hemisphere’s and the division or lateralisation of their functions, however it expands on the neuroscience to show how a certain arrangement of hemispheric function impacts culture and the world. The title itself alludes to the idea that the right hemisphere should be the master, whereas the left hemisphere should be the emissary, and only the emissary.

Nonetheless, in the modern world, unfortunately, it is increasingly the case that the left hemisphere is becoming the master as opposed to the right. According to McGilchrist, the left hemisphere makes for a terrible master and through its arrogance is usurping the world due to the fact that just because it knows less it thinks it knows everything. The right hemisphere is holistic in its function and more intuitive, in contrast to the left which works on the details only. By creating this detailed picture of the world, decontextualised and disembodied, it then imposes this image back onto reality and deems it to be the truth.

Though I have not read McGilchrist’s most recent published book, The Matter with Things, I have managed to…