Neurophilosophy

More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

These implications are: moral, epistemology, love, happiness, time and space, psychological, art, education, medical, economic, war, capital punishment, and abortion.

"Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" includes additional categories.

The self: social construct or neurobiological system?

by Philipp Rau

Empirically informed accounts of the origin of selfhood tend to subscribe to one or the other of two competing schools... more Empirically informed accounts of the origin of selfhood tend to subscribe to one or the other of two competing schools of thought: (1) social constructionism about the self or (2) individualistic theories that locate the origin of the self in the cognitive system of the individual organism. According to social constructionism, it is only by the acquisition of socially instituted responses (specifically, of language) that the individual constructs a self. Thus, G. H. Mead holds that social processes are a necessary condition for the ability to recognize oneself as an object (self-objectification), and for an integrated sense of self to emerge.
I shall oppose such purely social constructionist accounts of the self with a neuro-cognitive theory of selfhood. Drawing on work by neuroscientists and neurophilosophers (A. Damasio, P. S. Churchland), I shall argue that the self is at least in part constituted pre-socially, at the level of the individual, by the self-representational capacities of the mammalian brain. The integration of the self and the capacity for self-objectification will be shown to have a neurobiological origin. This account will be defended against objections that neuro-cognitive theories of selfhood are empirically false or explanatorily poor.
But while neuro-cognitive theories of the self deny that the self is purely social in origin, this does not entail that the self is not shaped by our social interactions. Evidence from both developmental psychology and neuroscience (Decety & Chaminade) suggests that social interactions do play a role in the shaping of the self in human development. It will be proposed, therefore, that a ‘multi-dimensional account’ (D. Zahavi) of the self should include both neurobiological and social factors, without however imperilling the priority of the neurobiology of selfhood over its social psychology.

A Reconstruction of Freedom in the Age of Neuroscience: A View from Neuropragmatism

by Tibor Solymosi

Contemporary Pragmatism, June 2011, 8:1, 153–171

I argue that classical pragmatism, with its emphasis on experimental method, has resurged explicitly in neopragmatism... more I argue that classical pragmatism, with its emphasis on experimental method, has resurged explicitly in neopragmatism and implicitly in neurophilosophy – both of which are impoverished because of their neglect of experimental method. Since philosophical work is already being done by neuro-enthusiasists, most of whom lack philosophical training, there is a growing tendency toward ‘neurobabble’ and fear of science. Neuropragmatism aims at critiquing both the emerging “neuro culture” and the promise of neuroscience for achieving our ideals. I use the case of free will as an introductory example of how this reconstruction can go about. Instead of asking whether neuroscience (or any science) tells us whether or not we have free will, we neuropragmatists ask “how does freedom work?”

Kant Concept Art

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "More Seminal Ethics Implications," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

The artist is P. Patten (USA).

Seminal Ethics

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Kant Concept Art," "More Seminal Ethics Implications," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

Additional implications include: moral, epistemology, love, happiness, time and space, psychological, art, education, medical, economic, war, capital punishment, abortion, and possibility.

Fundamentos para el Análisis de Funciones Neurobiológicas. Implementación y Ejecución Múltiple.

by Carlos M. Muñoz-Suárez

Rev. chil. neuropsicol. 2011; 6 (1): 12-19

Resumen
En este artículo se esboza una concepción general acerca de las funciones neurobiológicas.... more Resumen
En este artículo se esboza una concepción general acerca de las funciones neurobiológicas. Particularmente, la manera en que se describen normativamente y las estrategias mediante las cuales se definen. Así, se clarificará, por un lado, la distinción entre implementar y ejecutar una función y, por otro, la distinción entre definir y especificar una función. Adicionalmente, se presentará un esquema detallado de cómo las funciones neurobiológicas (que pueden ser múltiplemente implementables y ejecutables) pueden ser comprendidas. Finalmente, se introducirá el concepto de “supercluster” como una unidad de modelización de funciones neurobiológicas de nivel superior.
Palabras Claves
descripción para la implementación, conceptualizaciones modales y teleológicas, descripción composicional de las funciones, análisis composicional del funcionamiento, implementación y ejecución múltiple


Abstract
In this paper I will sketch a general conception about neurobiological functions. Particularly, the way in which we normatively de-scribe them and the strategies by which we define them. So I will clarify, on the one hand, the distinction between to realize and to perform a function and, on the other hand, the distinction between to define and to specify a function. Furthermore, I will present a fine-grained scheme of how neurobiological functions (which can be multiple realizable and performable) can be grasped. Finally, I will introduce the concept of ‘supercluster’ as a modeling unit of higher-level neurobiological functions.
Keywords
description to realization, modal and teleological conceptualizations, compositional description of functions, compositional analysis of performing, multiple realization and performance

Churchland, Patricia S.

by Michael J. Braund

published in The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2008

Patricia Smith Churchland, philosopher (b Oliver, BC 16 July 1943). Patricia Churchland earned a BA at the University... more Patricia Smith Churchland, philosopher (b Oliver, BC 16 July 1943). Patricia Churchland earned a BA at the University of British Columbia and completed graduate degrees at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oxford. In 1969 she was hired by the University of Manitoba, where she taught for 15 years. Churchland became the President's Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at San Diego in 1984, and subsequently adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and associate of the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory at the Salk Institute. Churchland's groundbreaking work in neurophilosophy has secured her a position among Canada's most influential philosophers.

To read more, please find this entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia

The Neural Accomplishment of Objectivity

by Pete Mandik

Supervenience and neuroscience

by Pete Mandik

The neurophilosophy of consciousness

by Pete Mandik

Evolving artificial minds and brains

by Pete Mandik

Philosophy meets the neurosciences

by Pete Mandik

The Introspectibility of Brain States as Such

by Pete Mandik

Phenomenal consciousness and the allocentric-egocentric interface

by Pete Mandik

Varieties of representation in evolved and embodied neural networks

by Pete Mandik

Der interdisziplinäre Diskurs über das Mentale. Ein Kommentar zur Polemik »Philosophie nervt« von Wolfgang Prinz

by Bettina Gutsche

Neurofilozofia jako filozofia w kontekście nauki [Neurophilosophy as Philosophy in Science]

by Łukasz Kurek

"Between-Two: On the Borderline of Being & Time"

by Gregory Nixon

*Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research* 2(2), March, 2011, pp. 150-164.

The purpose of this review article is to attempt to come to grips with the elusive vision of Gordon Globus, especially... more The purpose of this review article is to attempt to come to grips with the elusive vision of Gordon Globus, especially as revealed in this, his latest book. However, one can only grip that which is tangible and solid and Globus’s marriage of Heideggerian anti-concepts and “quantum neurophilosophy” seems purposefully to evade solidity or grasp. This slippery anti-metaphysics is sometimes a curse for the reader seeking imagistic or conceptual clarity, but, on the other hand, it is also the blessing that allows Globus to go far beyond (or deep within) the usual narrative explanations at the frontiers of physics, even that of the quantum variety.

History from within? Contextualizing the new neurohistory and seeking its methods.

by Jeremy Burman

In press at History of Psychology, but available through advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0023500

“Histories from below” sought to give voice to those ordinary folk whose social position had failed to afford them... more “Histories from below” sought to give voice to those ordinary folk whose social position had failed to afford them great power, wealth, or responsibility: the neglected undocumented. Now, Lynn Hunt calls for a revolution that would task historians with giving voice to feelings—what I will call a “history from within.” This is what led her to endorse Daniel Lord Smail’s suggestion that historians appeal to neuroscience; that a “new neurohistory” be constructed. The purpose would be to introduce a common factor to all human stories: a tool to think with when describing what it was like. If successful, this would be quite powerful: in Hunt’s view, such a project could lead to a universalization of human rights. But the program is not without challenges, one of which is to provide an acceptable explanation for the type of looping causation that applies to bio-cultural kinds. Smail’s solution involves an appeal to evolutionary theory, but how this solves the problem of causation is not clear. Here, therefore, an attempt is made to clarify his solution. His and Hunt’s views on the role of evidence in history are also made plain. The paper then concludes by importing related ideas from the recent history of philosophy. If one is going to have a brain-based view of felt-history, then the neurohistorian’s task is to situate historical individuals in contexts of shared experience—to not just read evidence through lenses of intellectual “thought collectives” (generalized from paradeigma), but also through “experiential” or “moral categories” (aisthánomai).

„Bilder, wohin man auch denkt. Zur Problematik neurophilosophischer Terminologie am Beispiel von Gerhard Roths ‚Gedächtnisbildern‘.“ [Images everywhere. Problems of Neurophilosophical Terminology – A Case Study on G. Roth’s ‚Memory Images‘.]

by Florian Lippert

In: Inge Hinterwaldner, Tanja Klemm, Roland Meyer, Carsten Juwig (eds.), „Topologien der Bilder“, Munich: Wilhelm Fink 2007, 187-199.