Neurobiological foundations of consciousness and the unified field theory: A philosophical analysis

Authors

  • Carlos Eduardo de Sousa Lyra Universidade Estadual do Piauí
  • Gabriel José Corrêa Mograbi Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso
  • Charbel N. El-Hani Universidade Federal da Bahia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2015.2.21512

Keywords:

Consciousness. Unified Field Theory. Philosophy of Neuroscience. Philosophy of Biology. Philosophy of Mind.

Abstract

In this article, we analyze António Damásio’s and Gerald Edelman’s approaches to consciousness, drawing a parallel with  the philosophical theses presented by John Searle. We also appeal to Bennett’s and Hacker’s criticisms as a touchstone of the viability of some theses. In this manner, we present a systematic review of Damásio’s, Edelman’s, and Searle’s torks in order to promote a productive dialogue between the ideas defended by those authorse which, according to our interpretation, assume a unified field theory of consciousness.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Carlos Eduardo de Sousa Lyra, Universidade Estadual do Piauí

Professor Adjunto de Psicologia, Universidade Estadual do Piauí, CIES de São Raimundo Nonato. Graduado em Filosofia e Psicologia pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB). Mestre em Psicologia (PUC-Rio). Doutor em Ensino, Filosofia e História das Ciências (UFBA/UEFS/UEPB).

Gabriel José Corrêa Mograbi, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso

Professor Adjunto, Departamento de Filosofia, UFMT, Cuiabá. Bacharel, Mestre e Doutor em Filosofia (UFRJ) com estágio doutoral em UC, Berkeley. Pós-Doutor em Filosofia da Neurociência e Neurociência pela University of Ottawa.

Charbel N. El-Hani, Universidade Federal da Bahia

Professor Associado, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia. Bacharel em Ciências Biológicas pela UFBA, Mestre em Educação pela UFBA e Doutor em Educação pela USP. Fez pós-doutorado no Centro de Filosofia da Natureza e Estudos da Ciência, da Universidade de Copenhague, Dinamarca.

References

Almeida, A.M.R.; El-Hani, C.N. (2006). Darwinismo neural: Uma extensão metafórica da teoria da seleção natural. Episteme 24: 335-356.

Anderson J.R.; Gallup Jr., G.G. (2011) Which Primates Recognize Themselves in Mirrors? PLoS Biology 9(3):e1001024. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001024

Bennett, M.R.; Hacker, P.M.S. (2008). Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Damásio, A.R. (1996). O erro de Descartes: emoção, razão e o cérebro humano. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.

Damásio, A.R. (2000). O mistério da consciência. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.

Damásio, A.R. (2004). Em busca de Espinosa: prazer e dor na ciência dos sentimentos. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.

Damásio, A.R. (2010). Self comes to mind: constructing the conscious brain. New York: Pantheon Books.

Edelman, G.M. (1987). Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. New York: Basic Books.

Edelman, G.M. (1988). Topobiology: An Introduction to Molecular Embryology. New York: Basic Books.

Edelman, G.M. (1989). The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness. New York: Basic Books.

Edelman, G.M. (1998). Biologia da consciência. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget.

Edelman, G.M. (2004). Wider than the sky: the phenomenal gift of consciousness. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI23795

Edelman, G.M. (2006). Second Nature: brain science and human nature. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Edelman, G.M.; Gally, J.A.; Baars, B.J. (2011). Biology of Counsciousness. Frontiers in Psychology 2: 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00004

Edelman, G.M.; Tononi, G. (1995). “Neural Darwinism: the brain as a selectional system”. In: Cornwell, J. (Ed.). (1995). Nature’s Imagination: The Frontiers of Scientific Vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 78-100.

Edelman, G.M.; Tononi, G. (1998). Counsciousness and Complexity. Science 282: 1846-1851. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.282.5395.1846

Edelman, G.M.; Tononi, G. (2000). A Universe of Consciousness: how matter becomes imagination. New York: Basic Books.

Freud, S. (2004). Pulsões e Destinos da Pulsão. In: Freud, S. (2004). Escritos sobre a psicologia do inconsciente. Trad. L. A. Hanns (Org.). Vol. 1, p. 133-173. Rio de Janeiro: Imago. (Trabalho original publicado em 1915).

Gallup Jr., G.G. (1970). Chimpanzees: Self-Recognition. Science 167(3914): 86-87. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.167.3914.86

Gazzaniga, M.S.; Heatherton, T.F. (2007). Ciência Psicológica: mente, cérebro e comportamento. Porto Alegre: Artmed.

Kitchen, A.; Denton, D.; Brent, L. (1996). Self-recognition and abstraction abilities in the common chimpanzee studied with distorting mirrors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 7405-7408. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.93.14.7405

LeDoux, J. (2001). O cérebro emocional: os misteriosos alicerces da vida emocional. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva.

Lyra, C.E.S. (2007). O inconsciente e a consciência: da psicanálise à neurociência. Revista Psicologia USP 18(3): 55-73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-65642007000300004

Maslin, K.T. (2009). Introdução à filosofía da mente. Porto Alegre: Artmed.

Mulcahy, N. J.; Call, J. (2006). Apes Save Tools for Future Use. Science 312: 1038-1040. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1125456

Nagel, T. (1979). Mortal Questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Plotnik, J.M.; de Waal, F.B. M.; Reiss, D. (2006). Self-recognition in an Asian elephant. PNAS 103: 17053-17057. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0608062103

Povinelli, D.J.; Gallup Jr., G.G.; Eddy, T.J.; Bierschwale, D.T.; Engstrom, M.C.; Perilloux; H.K.; Toxopeus, I.B. (1997). Chimpanzees recognize themselves in mirrors. Animal Behaviour 53: 1083–1088. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1996.0303

Reiss, D.; Marino, L. (2001). Mirror self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence. PNAS 98: 5937-5942. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.101086398

Russon, A.E.; Handayani, D.P.; Kuncoro, P.; Ferisa, A. (2007). Orangutan leaf-carrying for nest-building: Toward unraveling cultural processes. Animal Cognition 10: 189-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-006-0058-z

Sacks, O. (1995). “A new vision of the mind”. In: Cornwell, J. (Ed.). (1995). Nature’s Imagination: The Frontiers of Scientific Vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press; p. 101-121.

Searle, J.R. (1998). O mistério da consciência. São Paulo: Paz e Terra.

Searle, J.R. (2000). Consciousness. Annual Review of Neuroscience 23: 557-578. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.557

Searle, J.R. (2006). A redescoberta da mente. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.

Searle, J.R. (2010). Consciência e linguagem. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.

Searle, J.R. (2011). The mystery of consciousness continues. The New York Review of Books. In: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/mystery-consciousness-continues/

Wittgenstein, L. (2011). Philosophische Untersuchungen. Kritisch-genetische Edition. Herausgegeben von Joachim Schulte. Frankfurt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

Downloads

Published

2015-11-18

How to Cite

Lyra, C. E. de S., Mograbi, G. J. C., & El-Hani, C. N. (2015). Neurobiological foundations of consciousness and the unified field theory: A philosophical analysis. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 60(2), 287–312. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2015.2.21512

Issue

Vol. 60 No. 2 (2015): Filosofias da Biologia

Section

Filosofias da Biologia

License

Copyright

The submission of originals to Revista Veritas implies the transfer by the authors of the right for publication. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication. If the authors wish to include the same data into another publication, they must cite Revista Veritas as the site of original publication.


Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise specified, material published in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which allows unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is correctly cited. Copyright: © 2006-2020 EDIPUCRS</p