Biology and Subjectivity ― Philosophical Contributions to Non-reductive Neuroscience

Some may consider that the language and concepts of philosophy will eventually be superseded by those of neuroscience. This book questions such a naïve assumption and through a variety of perspectives and traditions, the authors show the possible contributions of philosophy to non-reductive forms of neuroscientific research. Drawing from the full range and depth of philosophical thought, from hylomorphism to ethics, by way of dynamical systems, enactivism and value theory, amongst other topics, this edited work promotes a rich form of interdisciplinary exchange.

Chapters explore the analytic, phenomenological and pragmatic traditions of philosophy, and most share a common basis in the Aristotelian tradition. Contributions address one or more aspects of subjectivity in relation to science, such as the meaning and scope of naturalism and the place of consciousness in nature, or the relation between intentionality, teleology, and causality. Readers may further explore the nature of life and its relation to mind and then the role of value in mind and nature.

This book shows how philosophy might contribute to real explanatory progress in science while remaining faithful to the full complexity of the phenomena of life and mind. It will be of interest to both philosophers and neuroscientists, as well as those engaged in interdisciplinary cooperation between philosophy and science.

Miguel Garcia-Valdecasas is Associate Professor at the University of Navarra (Spain) and a leading member of the project Mind-Brain: Biology and Subjectivity in Contemporary Philosophy and Neuroscience. Drawing on Aristotle’s philosophy of mind and action, his research focuses on the main epistemological and philosophical challenges of neuroscience, and particularly on the role of teleology in the problem of mental causation. He is author of a book on the metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas published in Spanish and of several articles on Aristotle, Aquinas and Wittgenstein.

Jose Ignacio Murillo is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Navarra. His research, focusing on philosophical anthropology, seeks to integrate perspectives of natural and social sciences on the concept of the human being. He has also devoted special attention to ancient and contemporary philosophical concepts of life and living beings. He is director of the interdisciplinary project Mind-Brain: Biology and subjectivity in contemporary philosophy and neuroscience at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra (Spain).