Cognition and Neurophysiology: Mechanism, Reduction, and Pluralism
Résumé
The present collection of papers brings together some of the most recent developments in the philosophical understanding of the relation of cognition to neuroscience. Earlier versions of most papers have been presented at a workshop held in Paris on 19 June 2006, which was organized by Institut Jean Nicod and supported by RESCIF (Réseau des sciences cognitives en Ile-de-France). The common starting point of all papers is the conviction that the concept of reduction is insufficient to account for the ongoing process of integration of the different sciences that study human cognition and the human brain. It is controversial whether psychology and biology discover and make use of specific biological or psychological laws, over and above chemical and physical laws. However, even if there are such laws and if they play an important role in explanations, it does not seem possible or fruitful to characterise the interaction of research at different levels as tending toward a reduction of higher-level laws and theories to lower-level laws and theories.The present collection of papers brings together some of the most recent developments in the philosophical understanding of the relation of cognition to neuroscience. Earlier versions of most papers have been presented at a workshop held in Paris on 19 June 2006, which was organized by Institut Jean Nicod and supported by RESCIF (Réseau des sciences cognitives en Ile-de-France). The common starting point of all papers is the conviction that the concept of reduction is insufficient to account for the ongoing process of integration of the different sciences that study human cognition and the human brain. It is controversial whether psychology and biology discover and make use of specific biological or psychological laws, over and above chemical and physical laws. However, even if there are such laws and if they play an important role in explanations, it does not seem possible or fruitful to characterise the interaction of research at different levels as tending toward a reduction of higher-level laws and theories to lower-level laws and theories.