Philosophy: Left, Both, or Right Brain Activity?

[Duty]

I'm curious as to what the opinion of people is on this.

Very quick explanation of what each half of your brain does:

Left Brain: Logical, Understands symbols (and therefore language and mathematics, where your right brain can not understand language at all), Detail oriented, sequential, understands algebra

Right Brain: Holistic, Sees things simultaneously instead of detailed, has hunches, imaginative, understands geometry better then algebra


The choices presented mean:
Left Brain: Philosophy is best done when the discussion is dominated by the left brain.
Both Hemispheres: Philosophy is best done when the discussion is done by both hemispheres roughly equally.
Right Brain: Philosophy is best done when the discussion is dominated by the right brain.

 

[IndigoSensor]

The people who I have encountered who are majoring in philosphy have very similar personalites (there are like 2 exceptions), and are very left brained. People who I have met who just like philohpsy are very right brained. So I am going to go with it is largely left brain.

 

[Satya]

You should have added "no brain" as an option since it seems to be a pretty common choice for some people.

 

[IndigoSensor]

Well somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning

 

[Zero]

I think philosophy is used by both hemispheres. Why?

Well, we could say philosophy first off is mostly just a hierarchy of beliefs or values. Believing in something requires an imagination and creativity, both of which involve the right-hemisphere. I think a philosophical idea begins here, and is gathered in the left-hemisphere where it is analyzed and critiqued about it's value.

Besides, philosophy encompasses a large array of different human concerns, all of which are centered in different areas of the brain. For instance Art and aesthetics(right), Logic and Reason(left), Ethics and values(right), mathematics and science(left), etc.

Philosophy is too broad a topic to tie it down to one hemisphere in my opinion, of course my opinion is always open to suggestion.

 

[Pristinegirl]

I'm for both hemispheres, I think that in order to be as objective as one can possibly be one has to encounter the benefits of both to reach a conclusion!

 

[Faye]

It is both, depending upon what kind of philosophy it is.

 

[Marnie]

Interesting topic.

I just want to say that some recent papers have shown that yes, the right hemisphere has a role to play in the comprehension of language. Its is extremely activated when you are hearing a discourse, for instance. Indeed, as the left hemisphere is only able to focus on the details, the right hemisphere keeps a vast amount of information activated so that, once you've heard the whole discourse, you can keep a general vision of it activated and make inferences, helping to create a global coherence.
This has been proved also in neuropsychological studies.

This is an extremely fascinating field of investigation! Could talk about it all night.
But well... I know this thread is from 2009 and that I'm writing this reply for nothing.... I love that thought!

 

[wolly.green]

I thought Steven Pinker completely debunked this idea 15 years ago?