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This volume provides an up to date and comprehensive overview of the philosophy and neuroscience movement, which applies the methods of neuroscience to traditional philosophical problems and uses philosophical methods to illuminate issues in neuroscience. At the heart of the movement is the conviction that basic questions about human cognition, many of which have been studied for millennia, can be answered only by a philosophically sophisticated grasp of neuroscience's insights into the processing of information by the human brain. Essays in this volume are clustered around five major themes: data and theory in neuroscience; neural representation and computation; visuomotor transformations; color vision; and consciousness.
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Cognition and the Brain The Philosophy and Neuroscience Movement This volume provides an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the philosophy and neuroscience movement, which applies the methods of neuroscience to traditional philosophical problems and uses philosophical methods to illuminate issues in neuroscience. At the heart of the movement is the conviction that basic questions about human cognition, many of which have been studied for millennia, can be answered only by a philosophically sophisticated grasp of neuroscience’s insights into the processing of information by the human brain. Essays in this volume are clustered around five major themes: data and theory in neuroscience; neural representation and computation; visuomotor transformations; color vision; and consciousness. Andrew Brook is Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science and Professor of Philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. He is the author of a number of books and articles, including Kant and the Mind and, with Paul Raymont, A Unified Theory of Consciousness. Kathleen Akins is Director of the McDonnell Project in Philosophy and Neuroscience and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Cognition and the Brain The Philosophy and Neuroscience Movement Edited by ANDREW BROOK Carleton University KATHLEEN AKINS Simon Fraser University cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, S˜ao Paulo Cambridge University Press 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521836425 C Cambridge University Press 2005 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2005 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Cognition and the brain : the philosophy and neuroscience movement / edited by Andrew Brook, Kathleen Akins. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-521-83642-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Cognitive neuroscience – Philosophy. i. Brook, Andrew. ii. Akins, Kathleen. iii. Title. qp360.5.c6326 2005 2004022551 612.8 233 – dc22 isbn-13 978-0-521-83642-5 hardback isbn-10 0-521-83642-5 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents List of Contributors page vii Introduction 1 Andrew Brook and Pete Mandik data and theory in neuroscience 1 Localization in the Brain and Other Illusions 27 Valerie Gray Hardcastle and C. Matthew Stewart 2 N