"But a mind is not just a collection of talents. One cannot maintain a purely composite or modular view of the mind, as many neurologists and psychologists now do. This removes that general quality of mind -- call it reach or range or size or spaciousness -- that is always instantly recognizable in normal people. It is a capacity that seems to be supramodal, and that shines through whatever particular talents there are. This is what we mean when we say that someone has "a fine mind." A modular view of the mind, no less importantly, also removes the personal center, the self, the "I." Normally there is a cohering and unifying power...that integrates all the separate faculties of mind, integrates them, too, with our experiences and emotions, so that they take on a uniquely personal cast. It is this global or integrating power that allows us to generalize and reflect, to develop subjectivity and a self-conscious self."
- Oliver Sacks, An Anthropologist on Mars, NY 1995 -
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