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2.2.3 Scientific approaches to the ‘Self’Returning briefly to Plato and Aristotle, it is possible to say that however ineffable, intangible orimmeasurable the self is, there is indubitable evidence that zoologically selves exist. Dawkins,pre-eminent among popular natural scientists, advances empirical and quantitative evidence ofthe physical presence of selves (Dawkins, 1978 or Dawkins, 2006). For him there is no virtualreality, there is only organic matter. The self is thus a collection of tissues, formed fromgenetically-controlled reactions, and ‘bonded’ together in a chemically-organised manner whichseems to have something to do with the functions it needs for the survival and perpetuation of itsown genetic identity (Dawkins, 1978 p. 7). In the post-Darwinian discourse in which Dawkins’work is situated this is unproblematic. Outside that paradigm, there remain debates about theverifiability of his theses and the reliability of the science on which they are predicated(McGrath, 2007).More helpfully, from within the neuro-scientific community, Damasio writes eloquently aboutthe neurobiology of feelings (Damasio, 2004 p. 101). In so doing, he points to the anatomy ofthose things, ‘hard’ science has often found it difficult to explain, things like beauty, altruismand love. Based on a number of ‘scientific experiments’ conducted within laboratory settings hereports the physiological modifications that occur when a self is experiencing feelings, which heargues are the precursor to emotions. Of particular interest to this study is Damasio’s conclusionthat, “an entity capable of feeling must be an organism that not only has a body but also meansto represent that body inside itself” (Damasio, 2004 p.109). Contributing to the modificationsdescribed above are hormones, chemicals, electrical impulses and secretions all of which areconnected to the personal interior landscape of the self being affected by external stimuli. Thisresearch would appear to validate in absentia, therefore, the belief systems of many, apparently‘quack’, alternative therapies like acupuncture, the manipulation of chakras and reiki that49Simon Hughes Ph.D. Thesis (October 2012)