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Overview
Philosophy and Neuroscience: A Ruthlessly Reductive Account is the first book-length treatment of philosophical issues and implications in current cellular and molecular neuroscience. John Bickle articulates a philosophical justification for investigating "lower level" neuroscientific research and describes a set of experimental details that have recently yielded the reduction of memory consolidation to the molecular mechanisms of long-term potentiation (LTP). These empirical details suggest answers to recent philosophical disputes over the nature and possibility of psycho-neural scientific reduction, including the multiple realization challenge, mental causation, and relations across explanatory levels. Bickle concludes by examining recent work in cellular neuroscience pertaining to features of conscious experience, including the cellular basis of working memory, the effects of explicit selective attention on single-cell activity in visual cortex, and sensory experiences induced by cortical microstimulation.
Synopsis
Contending that "... neuroscientists aren't philosophical philistines" necessarily, Bickle (U. of Cincinnati College of Medicine) argues against the philosophical position that the reductionism of neuroscience excludes addressing the classic mind-body problem of consciousness. In support of this argument intended to overcome an impasse in contemporary philosophy of mind, he traces the genesis of this impasse—including his past contribution to it— and enlists examples from current research on the cellular and molecular levels. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR