Soul, Mind and Brain from Descartes to Cognitive Science: A Critical History (SpringerBriefs in Philosophy)

This interdisciplinary book ties the historical work of Descartes to his successors through current research and critical overviews on the neuroscience of consciousness, the brain, and cognition. This text is the first historical survey to focus on the cohesions and discontinuities between historical and contemporary thinkers working in philosophy, physiology, psychology, and neuroscience. The book introduces and analyzes early discussions of consciousness, such as: metaphysical alternatives to scientific explanations of consciousness and its connection to brain activity; claims about the possibilities and limits of neuroscientific accounts of consciousness and cognition; and the proposition of a “non-reductive naturalism” concerning phenomenal consciousness and rationality. The author assesses the contributions of early philosophers and scientists on brain, consciousness and cognition, among them: Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Newton, Haller, Kant, Fechner, Helmholtz and du Bois-Reymond. The work of these pioneers is related to that of modern researchers in physiology, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy of mind, including: Freud, Hilary Putnam, Herbert Feigl, Gerald Edelman, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Daniel Dennett and David Chalmers, amongst others. This text appeals to researchers and advanced students in the field. Acknowledgments 5 Introduction 7 References 13 Contents 15 Abbreviations 17 1 Descartes’ Double Legacy 18 1.1 Dualism Versus Mechanism? 18 1.2 Brain and Body as Machines 20 1.3 Reconsidering Descartes’ Mechanism 26 1.4 The Conscious Mind and the Limits of Mechanistic Science 28 1.5 Unity of Mind and Body: Metaphysics Versus Experience 35 References 38 2 Mechanism, Metaphysics and Mind in the Seventeenth Century 40 2.1 Scientific Revolution, Mechanism and Mind 40 2.2 A Case Study: Animal Spirits 43 2.3 Metaphysical Alternatives 45 2.4 Hobbes and “Mechanistic Materialism” 46 2.5 Seat of the Soul and Extended Mind 48 2.6 Cartesian Physiology, Teleology and Mind–Body Parallelism: Malebranche 50 2.7 Cartesian Physiology and Monism: Spinoza 52 2.8 Leibnizian Harmony and the Conflict of Systems 55 References 59 3 Active Matter, Mental Powers and the Limits of Knowledge 62 3.1 Dead Matter, Active Matter, Thinking Matter 62 3.2 Gassendi: Atomism and Its Limits 65 3.3 Locke: Thinking Matter and Metaphysical Ignorance 68 3.4 Newton on Soul and Mental Powers 72 3.5 Between Physiology and Psychology: The Case of Irritability 76 3.6 Newtonianisms and Materialisms 78 References 83 4 Physiology of Mind and Autonomy of Reason: A Kantian Legacy 86 4.1 Kantianism and Cognitive Science 86 4.2 Kant on the Possibility and Limits of the Neurophysiology of Mind 89 4.3 The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth Century Neurophysiology 95 4.4 Kantianism, Emergentism and Psychology 98 4.5 “Organization of the Mind” and Naturalization of the a Priori 103 References 105 5 Brain, Consciousness and the Unconscious in the Nineteenth Century 108 5.1 The Rise of Neuroscience in the Nineteenth Century and Its Philosophical Importance 108 5.2 Varieties of Monism 112 5.3 The Unconscious: Cognitive, Metaphysical, Dynamical 115 5.4 The Problem of Consciousness 121 References 129 6 Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience: Evidence, Hypotheses, Critique 132 6.1 New Discoveries, Great Expectations 132 6.2 Materialism, Functionalism and the Promises of Neuroscience 134 6.3 Consciousness: Between Naturalization and Metaphysics 139 6.4 Neuroscientific Models and Philosophical Questions 143 6.5 Controversies and Critiques 149 References 156 This interdisciplinary book ties the historical work of Descartes to his successors through current research and critical overviews on the neuroscience of consciousness, the brain, and cognition. This text is the first historical survey to focus on the cohesions and discontinuities between historical and contemporary thinkers working in philosophy, physiology, psychology, and neuroscience.The book introduces and analyzes early discussions of consciousness, such as: metaphysical alternatives to scientific explanations of consciousness and its connection to brain activity; claims about the possibilities and limits of neuroscientific accounts of consciousness and cognition; and the proposition of a #x93;non-reductive naturalism#x94; concerning phenomenal consciousness and rationality. The author assesses the contributions of early philosophers and scientists on brain, consciousness and cognition, among them: Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Newton, Haller, Kant, Fechner, Helmholtz and du Bois-Reymond. The work of these pioneers is related to that of modern researchers in physiology, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy of mind, including: Freud, Hilary Putnam, Herbert Feigl, Gerald Edelman, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Daniel Dennett and David Chalmers, amongst others. This text appeals to researchers and advanced students in the field Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Descartes’ Double Legacy (Paolo Pecere)....Pages 1-22 Mechanism, Metaphysics and Mind in the Seventeenth Century (Paolo Pecere)....Pages 23-44 Active Matter, Mental Powers and the Limits of Knowledge (Paolo Pecere)....Pages 45-68 Physiology of Mind and Autonomy of Reason: A Kantian Legacy (Paolo Pecere)....Pages 69-90 Brain, Consciousness and the Unconscious in the Nineteenth Century (Paolo Pecere)....Pages 91-114 Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience: Evidence, Hypotheses, Critique (Paolo Pecere)....Pages 115-142