That's right, B. Sure, emotions and brain chemicals go hand in hand, but those chemicals are only one very small part of the whole human picture, as you pointed out.

Then there is the dangerous problem of reducing the whole gamut of human experience, and indeed human beings in general to nothing more than the random products of biological evolotion, of the elements (chemicals) that make up our physical bodies.

That's what science would have us all believe. And I, for one, simply refuse. It's easy, I suppose, to mistreat or enslave or torture or rob or kill or otherwise harm oneself and others if human beings are understood only through Western science's construct of "reality" -- ie human beings are random products of evolution, nothing more than biochemical machines.

WHy should I bother to treat some conglomeration of chemicals with compassion or kindess, after all?

On the other hand, if I view myself and all other people as priceless and unique "souls", with exactly the same rights to have their needs met and to be happy / free of suffering as I do, well ... I'll be a lot less likely to cheat them or drop bombs of any kind on them etc.