Brain-Wise : studies in neurophilosophy

This book is about neurophilosophy. It aims to take stock of various philosophical problems concerning the nature of the mind, given the recent bonanza of developments in neuroscience and cognitive science. In finding a path through the thicket of relevant neuroscientific studies and discoveries, I found material assembling itself into two classical categories: metaphysics and epistemology. Ethics gets a brief look in my discussion of free will and responsibility, but is mainly undiscussed on this occasion. Religion is the subject of the closing chapter, and has both a metaphysical and an epistemological dimension. Before plunging on, we shall limber up with a few brief historical points and a short discussion on reductionism, a pivotal concept whose clarity is no luxury as we begin to assay the integration of hitherto separated domains