Philosophers’ Carnival #37
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Recent Sources on Functions and Mechanisms
Next Spring, I’m teaching a course on mechanisms (mechanistic explanation) and functions (functional explanation). I’m considering some of the following sources: The Monist, 87.1 (2004). Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 37.1 (2006). Allen, C., M. Bekoff, and G. Lauder, Eds. (1998). Nature’s Purposes: Analysis of Function and Design …
A Logical Brain?
Apparently, famous identity-theorist U.T. Place’s brain is preserved at University of Adelaide. See here. You’ll notice that it’s left hemisphere (right facing you) is huge compared to it’s right. Is this some evidence for the old logic and language in the left-brain idea (assuming Place was quite logical–and perhaps not …
The Unreliability of Introspection
Traditionally, many philosophers like to attribute special status to at least some kinds of knowledge that we have of our minds. The purported reliability of introspection is often invoked by those who propose to construct a first-person science–a science based on private evidence delivered through introspection. Even Daniel Dennett, a naturalist …
Beyond Modularity?
In the recent thread, the issue of modularity was discussed. Anibal wrote the following: “My humble view is that the brain is a brilliant plastic and distributed machine using one single module to more than one cognitive function and viceversa.”This reminded me of some recent, interesting work along these lines …
Do cognitive neuroscientist really think…
Dear virtual community, This may be a really stupid question, but I am obsessed. Couple of weeks ago a lecturer asked me in a lecture: ”A-M, do cognitive (neuro)scientists really think that the female and male brains are different?” I said: “Yes, pretty much so. The empirical – for example anatomical – …
NIPS 2006 Workshop: Decoding the Neural Code
There is great interest in sensory coding. Studies of sensory coding typically involve recording from sensory neurons during stimulus presentation, and the investigators determine which aspects of the neuronal response are most informative about the stimulus. These studies are left with a decoding problem: are the discovered codes, sometimes quite exotic, ultimately used by the nervous system to guide behavior? In our one-day workshop, researchers with many different backgrounds will evaluate what we know about neuronal decoders and suggest new strategies, both experimental and computational, for addressing the decoding problem.