The science of subjectivity

neurobiology and evolutionary development

Joseph U. Neisser

pp. 87-109

in: Joseph U. Neisser, The science of subjectivity, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

There is a venerable tradition in philosophy, in which the conceptual analysis is presented first, with the empirical "detail" to be filled in afterward. In this book, three chapters of philosophy of mind and psychology precede the introduction of relevant biology. But the reality behind this traditional presentation is that good conceptual work is simultaneously informed by the facts. The arguments of the first three chapters were tacitly motivated by what is known about brains, the animals that have them, the environments they live in, and their history. In this chapter I discuss a just a small sample of the abundant and quickly growing research in neuropsychology that inspires this book. As much as possible (it will not always be possible), I postpone discussion of the further theoretical and philosophical implications until the next chapter. First I focus on a kind of thumbnail sketch of the neuropsychological basis of the animal subjectivity.