AUTHOREA
Log in
Sign Up
Browse Preprints
LOG IN
SIGN UP
Essential Site Maintenance
: Authorea-powered sites will be updated circa 15:00-17:00 Eastern on Tuesday 5 November.
There should be no interruption to normal services, but please contact us at
[email protected]
in case you face any issues.
Robert Williams
Public Documents
1
How might a “philosopher’s toolkit” help advance neuroscience? Let’s ask some neurosc...
John Bickle
and 7 more
July 16, 2024
How might a “philosopher’s toolkit” contribute to progress in neuroscience? This paper addresses this question by first posing it to several neuroscientists, all with a track record of successfully interacting with philosophers. These discussions took the form of structured interviews following the strategy of Barwich (2020, 2021) and highlighted a number of issues these neuroscientists thought philosophers could help them solve; some of these problems were at the center of these neuroscientists’ research programs. Are philosophers willing and able to bring their “toolkits” to bear on problems like these? No definite answers to this question emerge from these interviews, but in our interactions it became obvious that philosophers will need real training in neuroscience to contribute to these concerns. Fortunately, over the past two decades, there are growing numbers of philosophers trained in the science-in-practice movement. Our collective findings should not only encourage them that they can genuinely contribute to neuroscience’s progress, but also that some neuroscientists will seek them out and highly value their contributions. These discussions can also guide other neuroscientists about ways to interact fruitfully with philosophers active in the field of science-in-practice.