1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778015103321

Autore

Changeux Jean-Pierre

Titolo

The physiology of truth [[electronic resource] ] : neuroscience and human knowledge / / Jean-Pierre Changeux ; translated by M.B. DeBevoise

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, MA, : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004

ISBN

0-674-02941-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (336 p.)

Collana

Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative

Classificazione

CC 4400

Disciplina

612.8

Soggetti

Neurosciences

Brain - Physiology

Knowledge, Theory of

Mind-brain identity theory

Science - Methodology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-303) and index.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents""; ""Introduction""; ""1 Thinking Matter""; ""2 The Acquisition of Knowledge""; ""3 States of Consciousness""; ""4 Knowledge and Social Life""; ""5 From Genes to Brain""; ""6 Neuronal Epigenesis and Cultural Evolution""; ""7 Scientific Research and the Search for Truth""; ""8 The Humanity of Science""; ""Conclusion""; ""Notes""; ""Credits""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Index""

Sommario/riassunto

"In this wide-ranging book, one of the boldest thinkers in modern neuroscience confronts an ancient philosophical problem: can we know the world as it really is? Drawing on provocative new findings about the psychophysiology of perception and judgment in both human and nonhuman primates, and also on the cultural history of science, Jean-Pierre Changeux makes a powerful case for the reality of scientific progress and argues that it forms the basis for a coherent and universal theory of human rights. On this view, belief in objective knowledge is not a mere ideological slogan or a naïve confusion; it is a characteristic feature of human cognition throughout evolution, and the scientific method its most sophisticated embodiment. Seeking to reconcile science and humanism, Changeux holds that the capacity to recognize



truths that are independent of subjective personal experience constitutes the foundation of a human civil society."