The Left Hemisphere is a Paradox Moron

Photo by Sammy Williams on Unsplash

So, I’m working through Iain McGilchrist’s The Master and His Emissary. I’m a third of the way through but more than two-thirds blown away. It’s a stunning work.

I agree with Russ Roberts on “Econtalk” who said he can’t recommend the book to his listeners but can’t recommend it enough. It’s a slog but an exciting one.

The premise of the book

The right hemisphere is the master. The left hemisphere is its emissary.

The right hemisphere looks at reality in its fullness. The left hemisphere divides, then manipulates and uses those things.

Both hemispheres are necessary, but the right hemisphere is the master because it sees the big picture. The left hemisphere is supposed to use its talents of dividing to further the big picture of the right hemisphere.

Unfortunately, in the modern world, the left hemisphere has usurped the right hemisphere’s place and has become the master . . . much to our detriment.

The paradox moron

McGilchrist says the left hemisphere’s dominance makes us unable to solve paradoxes.

The sorites paradox goes like this: One grain of sand is not a heap. You can keep adding one grain at a time. No one grain will ever make a “nonheap”…