Neuroscience and Human Identity: Are We Just Our Brains? - Sharon Dirckx

What exactly are human beings? Are we advanced apes? Are we machines? Are we souls confined to a body? Questions of core human identity are central to many contemporary discussions. One often expressed view is that human beings are their brains. Our behaviours, choices, personality, even religious beliefs are dictated by the chemical and electrical activity in our neurons. Is this true? Or is there more to us than simply matter? If God is real, does that change how we think about this topic? In this talk we address these questions and others, drawing upon clinical neuroscience, philosophy and theology as we think about who we really are.

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Sharon Dirckx is a freelance speaker and author and an adjunct lecturer at OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Originally from a scientific background, she has a PhD in brain imaging from the University of Cambridge. Sharon speaks and lectures on science and theology, ‘mind and soul’, and the problem of evil. She has appeared on several BBC programmes in the UK including Radio 2 Good Morning Sunday and Radio 4 Beyond Belief. Sharon is also author of an award-winning book on suffering, entitled Why?: Looking at God, evil and personal suffering (2013), as well as a book on human consciousness and identity, entitled, Am I just my brain? (2019). Sharon was a contributor to best-selling author Lee Strobel’s latest book and subsequent documentary, The Case for Heaven (2021). Her next book on natural disasters, Broken Planet, was released in February 2023.

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