ABOUT FORM: How Brain Forms Make Thought Forms

This introduction for general readers to the study of form interrelates scientific, artistic and philosophical aspects of the subject and proposes a new formal bridge between the cultures of science and art.

It also demonstrates how studies of form provide powerful new lenses through which to examine the relationship between the brain and the mind. Some examples of the fresh viewpoints that derive from such studies are given in the following quotations from the book (pages 17-18, 92-94).

'… For human beings, major implications of this apparent fact of evolution are (a) that there are necessarily two perspectives on all topics, (b) that these two perspectives are formal inverses of each other, and (c) that these perspectives seem hard-wired into our brains. … The apparent biological necessity for two perspectives renders the standard Big Questions of human thought ill-founded, in that they assume that there is only one answer. … The very emergence and nature of philosophy itself seem to have been crucially dependent on such attempts to obtain unitary answers in neural states that are necessarily binary. … It might at first be difficult for individuals and communities to replace traditional 'one truth' conventions with 'two truth' conventions (such as those advocated in this book) but it appears very likely that these replacements will eventually prove essential to human progress.'

ABOUT WORM BRAIN TO HUMAN MIND: The Evolution of a Mental Principle

This book describes the apparent evolution of the seemingly pivotal mental principle called left-right bicyclic inversion and the remarkable compatibility of the philosophical, biological and clinical evidence supporting it. Such unusual unanimity between different research fields reinforces the argument for the principle and thus warrants the attention of anyone interested in the basic mysteries of human thought.

In the jungle of brain-mind research the formal inversion theory provides a scientifically and philosophically credible clearing - where the highest brain and thought forms appear intrinsically double and cyclic (i.e. bicyclic) and the cycles appear mutually inverted between the left and right sides of animal and human bodies. It therefore seems time to establish a base-camp in the shared clearing, where we may check and map our bearings - and so prepare to mount joint and separate expeditions yet further into the interior. This book offers a contribution to that exercise.

The author, Graham Rabey, is a human morphologist. He obtained his medical degree from the University of London and a research doctorate in anatomy from the University of Manchester. He originated and developed the discipline called morphanalysis, which has had its main application in studies of the normal and abnormal human head. His working life has been spent in clinical and research appointments at universities and hospitals in England and the USA.