"Synapses are protoplasmic kisses, the final ecstasy of an epic love story." Jim Buggy concluded his presentation with this quote from the inventor of the so-called neuron-doctrine, Santiago Ramon y Cajal. It serves well to illustrate how Jim extracts himself from a very particular predicament. He is a neurophysiologist who finds himself dealing with some of the most prominent issues in the history of philosophy: is there a qualitative distinction between humans and animals? is mind distinct from brain, spirit distinct from matter? what is the relation of reason to emotion? As he tackles these issues in the context of his empirical researches, he ends up deflating and subverting sublime philosophical conceptions concerning the human spirit or mind, especially Descartes's famous mind-body dualism. But does this mean that he and other 'material determinists' do not appreciate and marvel at the wonderful workings of the human mind? No. After all, synapses can be considered protoplasmic kisses . . .
The final ecstasy of an epic love story -- that might also be a final chapter in the story of the relationship between various disciplines. Jim's talk pointed to an interesting interface with biology: "Genes determine structure and function but experiences in turn modify genes (not the germ-line but the expression of genes)." Conclusions like these (and they seem to restore just a bit of Lamarck against the Darwinian tradition) can be drawn from some of Jim's experimental studies: animals can be motivated to perform all kinds of actions in exchange for electrical or chemical stimulations of the brain; biological clocks can be transplanted from brains of one species to brains of another, and the recipients will now live by the rhythm of the donors; neural plasticity is exemplified by chemical interference with sex-differentiation; etc.
The 'Department of Physiology' is located at an exciting intersection between biology and medicine/anatomy. I imagine that the give and take is fairly intense (and the range of journals in which Jim publishes testifies to that: Brain Research, Plant Physiology, Clinical Science, Hypertension, Physiology and Behavior, Molecular Brain Research, Anat. Record., Science, etc.). But is the story of Philosophy and Neurophysiology the story of a divorce? Of course, there is the 'Philosophy of Mind' which discusses the traditional questions under contemporary scientific conditions, i.e., in regard to advances in brain research, linguistics, AI, etc. Also, when Jim mentioned, for example, that mind may be an emergent property or brain, he placed himself right into the middle of philosophical questions about this very idea: what is an emergent property, how can one make sense of this claim? Here is a possible interface between the Philosophy of Science and Neurophysiology . . .
Alfred Nordmann
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