has discounted the notion that size equates complexity (Dart, 1956; Holloway, 1968). Instead, many have hypothesized that the complex nature of the later hominid line arose from a "bunching" of extra neurons which allows for more critical thinking and self awareness (Jerison, 1973). In the same sense, then, as socialization occurred, so did the increased pressure on the brain to account for more complex problems and solutions. Thus, simply speaking, the modern brain is able to perform complex functions because it was called upon more and more to do so in past generations untold eons ago, and through significant pressure, evolved into a non static organ which had the ability to reason instead of simply reacting (Andrew, 1962; Jerison, 1973).
Anatomical dissection was known to the ancients, and by around 200 B.C. the Greek anatomist Galen knew a good deal about the human nervous system. For Galen, the brain was the repository of humanness, and the act of breathing sent "psychic pneuma" to the brain where it was then guided to the necessary organs or muscles (Churchland, 1986). Other Greeks such as Pythagoras constructed paradigms to place theoretical thought in the realm of mankind. Similarly, philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle encouraged man to contemplate the meaning of life, the self, and the universe in a manner than moved far and above previous non tangential thinking (Bergland, 1985).
Little was accomplished during Medieval times, since that society was preoccupied with religious questions and had turned to a more orthodox approach to the science of the mind. In other words, the human mind was only as complex as described in biblical sources, and any approach to take that further was met with skepticism and even charges of heresy. Humans acted in two ways; for the glory of God, and against the glory of God. Free will was limited, in that the battle was between goodness and evil, with humankind as the...