Resumo: neste artigo, examinamos a ideia de que o transumanismo é uma religião. Para isso, partimos de uma definição prototípica do transumanismo, que orientará nossa abordagem. Na sequência, apresentamos a ideia de transumanismo como um tipo de religião. Além de destacar as semelhanças entre transumanismo e religião apontadas pelos defensores de tal possibilidade de associação/identificação, apresentamos algumas das suas alegações fundamentais, concluindo a seção com uma lista de diferenças entre transumanismo e religião. Em seguida, tendo em mente semelhanças e diferenças, (...) analisamos as alegações apresentadas na seção anterior, o que nos leva à contestação da plausibilidade daquela ideia. Concluímos o artigo com uma breve reconstrução da teoria habermasiana da religião, a fim de fundamentar a manutenção da separação entre as esferas da ciência e da religião, o que seria fundamental para salvaguardar o horizonte epistêmico e normativo das sociedades pós-metafísicas, democráticas e pluralistas. (shrink)

Tom Kelly argues that instrumentalist aeeounts of epistemie rationality fail beeause what a person has reason to believe does not depend upon the eontent of his or her goals. However, his argument fails to distinguish questions about what the evidence supports from questions about what a person ought to believe. Once these are distinguished, the instrumentalist ean avoid Kelly’s objeetions. The paperconcludes by sketehing what I take to be the most defensible version of the instrumentalist view.

This article investigates the metaphor of the “black box” in artificial intelligence, a representation that often suggests that AI is an unfathomable power, politically uncontrollable and shrouded in an aura of opacity. While the concept of the “black box” is legitimate and applicable in deep neural networks due to the in- herent complexity of the process, it has also become a generic pretext for the perception, which we seek to critically analyze, that AI systems are inscrutable and out of control, (...) as well as supposedly endowed with intel- ligence and creativity. To challenge these ideas, we will address what we call the supremacy of patterns and the two significant phenomena that result from it: enchanted determinism and the dictatorship of the past. (shrink)

Tom Kelly argues that instrumentalist accounts of epistemic rationality fail because what a person has reason to believe does not depend upon the content of his or her goals. However, his argument fails to distinguish questions about what the evidence supports from questions about what a person ought to believe. Once these are distinguished, the instrumentalist can avoid Kelly’s objections. The paper concludes by sketching what I take to be the most defensible version of the instrumentalist view.

This examination of a fundamental but often neglected aspect of the intellectual history of early modern Europe brings together philosophers, historians and political theorists from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia, France and Germany. Despite the diversity of disciplines and national traditions represented, the individual contributions show a remarkable convergence around three themes: changes in the modes of moral education in early modern Europe, the emergence of new relations between conscience and law (particularly the law of the state), and (...) the shared continuities and discontinuities of both Roman Catholic and Protestant moral culture in relation to their medieval past. (shrink)

No presente artigo gostaríamos de mostrar como a relação de Heidegger com a ciência e com a modernidade se dá num momento imediatamente anterior a Ser e Tempo. Para tal, faremos uma análise do texto elaborado a partir do curso, de 1924, Introdução à Investigação fenomenológica. Nesse texto o autor afirma que o que ali se prepara é um confronto com a fenomenologia atual, leia-se: husserliana. Esse confronto se estrutura a partir da crítica feita por Heidegger ao artigo A Filosofia (...) como Ciência de Rigor, de Edmund Husserl. Nele Heidegger acredita ter encontrado um preconceito que se interporia entre as coisas elas mesmas e o ente que nós somos e, pela falta de crítica desse preconceito, a fenomenologia de seu mestre se manteria ainda não-fenomenológica de fato. Tal preconceito seria justamente a necessária busca por segurança por meio de um método prévio à investigação da fenomenologia; tal necessidade, por sua vez, seria advinda da tradição moderna cartesiana na qual Husserl se manteria, o que não permitiria, segundo Heidegger, que sua filosofia pudesse se tornar, de fato, fundamental, como se arrogava. (shrink)

QUEM É MESMO EMPREGADO? DILEMAS DA SUBORDINAÇÃO JURÍDICA E O RETORNO DA DEPENDÊNCIA.

O tema do artigo são as representações de moldura e ekphrasis em A santa de Schöneberg, conto de Rubem Fonseca que tem como centro a vida e a obra do pintor EgonSchiele. O objetivo é verificar como tais procedimentos são realizados pelo narrador e de que maneira eles contribuem para o desenvolvimento da trama. Assim, tomamos como apoio teórico textos de estudiosos que tratam de moldura, da ekphrasis, da obra fonsequiana e de aspectos das narrativas breves, tais como Ortega y (...) Gasset (1963), Rosana de Lima Soares (2001), João Adolfo Hansen (2006), Ariovaldo José Vidal (2000), e Ricardo Piglia (2004).Palavras-chave: Rubem Fonseca. Moldura. Ekphrasis. Conto. (shrink)

The generic idea that the human should enhance seems uncontroversial. However, there is a great controversy about the meaning of enhance and the means that should be used. The possibilities of enhance humans through the use of biotechnology are a central theme of the current bioethical debate. Human Enhancement is the concept used to translate the idea that a biotransformation would generate a bioenhancement. In this article, we present a proposal for a factual-elementary framework of the generic concept of human (...) enhancement, in order to highlight the differences between a normative terminology and a descriptive terminology. Then, we contest the radical polarization that creates a harmful bias in the debate, arguing that what is at issue is a decision making based on non-universal value judgments. (shrink)

One of the central aims of the neo-mechanistic framework for the neural and cognitive sciences is to construct a pluralistic integration of scientific explanations, allowing for a weak explanatory autonomy of higher-level sciences, such as cognitive science. This integration involves understanding human cognition as information processing occurring in multi-level human neuro-cognitive mechanisms, explained by multi-level neuro-cognitive models. Strong explanatory neuro-cognitive reduction, however, poses a significant challenge to this pluralist ambition and the weak autonomy of cognitive science derived therefrom. Based on (...) research in current molecular and cellular neuroscience, the framework holds that the best strategy for integrating human neuro-cognitive theories is through direct reductive explanations based on molecular and cellular neural processes. It is my aim to investigate whether the neo-mechanistic framework can meet the challenge. I argue that leading neo-mechanists offer some significant replies; however, they are not able yet to completely remove strong explanatory reductionism from their own framework. (shrink)

A partir da hipótese de que a inteligência artificial como tal não representaria o fim da supremacia humana, uma vez que, na essência, a IA somente simularia e aumentaria aspectos da inteligência humana em artefatos não biológicos, o presente artigo questiona sobre o risco real a ser enfrentado. Para além do embate entre tecnofóbicos e tecnofílicos, o que se defende, então, é que as possíveis falhas de funcionamento de uma inteligência artificial – decorrentes de sobrecarga de informação, de uma programação (...) equivocada ou de uma aleatoriedade do sistema – poderiam sinalizar os verdadeiros riscos existenciais, sobretudo quando se considera que o cérebro biológico, na esteira do viés da automação, tende a assumir de maneira acrítica aquilo que é posto por sistemas ancorados em inteligência artificial. Além disso, o argumento aqui defendido é que falhas não detectáveis pela provável limitação de controle humano quanto ao aumento de complexidade do funcionamento de sistemas de IA representam o principal risco existencial real. Palavras-chave: Inteligência artificial, risco existencial, superinteligências, controle humano. (shrink)

“Pós-humano” se tornou um termo guarda-chuva para se referir à variedade de escolas de pensamento e diferentes movimentos, incluindo o pós-humanismo filosófico, cultural e crítico; transumanismo ; a abordagem feminista dos novos materialismos; o panorama heterogêneo do anti-humanismo, meta-humanismo, meta-humanidades e pós-humanidades. Tal uso genérico e abrangente do termo criou confusões metodológicas e teóricas entre especialistas e não especialistas. Este ensaio irá explorar as diferenças entre esses movimentos, focando particularmente nas áreas de significação compartilhadas pelo pós-humanismo e transumanismo. Ao apresentar (...) essas duas filosofias independentes, ainda que relacionadas, o pós-humanismo pode-se provar um ponto de vista mais compreensível para refletir sobre futuros possíveis. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Kant-Studien Jahrgang: 108 Heft: 2 Seiten: 175-194.

This paper presents the results of an experiment designed to test for nationality bias among members of the Brazilian philosophical community. Faculty members and postgraduate students from philosophy departments at seven Brazilian universities evaluated texts attributed to authors of European and Latin American nationalities. Results showed a clear preference for French nationality over Brazilian. They were inconclusive, however, when contrasting other Latin American nationalities with European nationalities, which likely relates to the academic background of the participants. These overall results support (...) the claim that Brazilian academic philosophers are highly critical of Brazilians who produce theories of their own. The paper calls on philosophers to carefully consider the ways in which Eurocentrism impacts their very ability to reason. (shrink)

Grammatical gender processing during language production has classically been studied using the so-called picture-word interference (PWI) task. In this procedure, participants are presented with pictures they must name using target nouns while ignoring superimposed written distractor nouns. Variations in response times are expected depending on the congruency between the gender values of targets and distractors. However, there have been disparate results in terms of the mandatory character of an agreement context to observe competitive gender effects and the interpretation of the (...) direction of these effects in Romance languages, this probably due to uncontrolled variables such as animacy. In the present study, we conducted two PWI experiments with European Portuguese speakers who were asked to produce bare nouns. The percentage of animate targets within the list was manipulated: 0, 25, 50, and 100%. A gender congruency effect was found restricted to the 0% list (all targets were inanimate). Results support the selection of gender in transparent languages in the absence of an agreement context, as predicted by the Gender Acquisition and Processing (GAP) hypothesis (Sá-Leite et al.,2019), and are interpreted through the attentional mechanisms involved in the PWI paradigm, in which the processing of animate targets would be favored to the detriment of distractors due to biological relevance and semantic prioritization. (shrink)

Haciendo un análisis amplio del contexto no solamente futbolístico, sino también político y artístico, el autor ayuda a comprender como el deporte se volvió en verdadera pasión nacional, que abarca todas las clases sociales, desde comienzos del siglo XX hasta hoy en día. El autor presenta el equipo de fútbol nacional en su formación, sus momentos de apogeo, - con jugadores memorables, como Pelé, Garrincha, Rivelino, Ronaldo Fenómeno y Ronaldinho Gaúcho -, hasta su queda, marcadamente por se haber trasformado en (...) un equipo de calidad técnica mediana, por influencia de la baja inversión en la formación y manutención de jugadores en territorio nacional, los cuales inmigran cada vez más temprano, vendidos para equipos extranjeros, sobre todo del continente europeo. (shrink)

This article analyzes the political and artistic context of Brazilian football. I attempt to understand how football became a true national passion, encompassing all social classes, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. I present the Brazilian national team from its heyday – with memorable players such as Pelé, Garrincha, Rivelino, Ronaldo Fenômeno, and Ronaldinho Gaúcho – to its downfall, marked by its transformation into a team of average technical quality. I argue that such downfall is related (...) to the lack of investment in the formation and maintenance of players in Brazil, as they emigrate ever earlier after being sold to foreign teams, particularly in the European continent. (shrink)

Human extinction is something generally deemed as undesirable, although some scholars view it as a potential solution to the problems of the Earth since it would reduce the moral evil and the suffering that are brought about by humans. We contend that humans collectively have absolute intrinsic value as sentient, conscious and rational entities, and we should preserve them from extinction. However, severe threats, such as climate change and incurable viruses, might push humanity to the brink of extinction. Should that (...) occur, it might be useful to envision a successor to humans able to preserve and hand down its value. One option would be to resort to humanoid robots that reproduce our salient characteristics by imitation, thanks to AI powered by machine learning. However, the question would arise of how to select the characteristics needed for our successors to thrive. This could prove to be particularly challenging. A way out might come from an algorithm entrusted with this choice. In fact, an algorithmic selection both at the social and at the individual level could be a preferred choice than other traditional ways of making decisions. In this sense, reflecting on human extinction helps us to identify solutions that are also suitable for the problems we face today. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem por objetivo mostrar, desde a psicanálise freudiana, um caminho possível que a leva ao encontro da filosofia de orientação fenomenológica. Em O eu e o isso, de 1923, Sigmund Freud emprega uma nova noção pouco explorada na literatura psicanalítica: o eu-corpo. O escopo de nossa análise delimita-se à interpretação e à explicitação da noção de eu-corpo tal como esta foi apresentada por Freud, confrontando-a com a fenomenologia em Merleau-Ponty e Michel Henry. Para tanto, propomos uma análise (...) em quatro tempos. Inicialmente, evidenciaremos o entendimento de Freud sobre o modelo de psicologia originada em Brentano que tem como um de seus desdobramentos a fenomenologia. Depois, mostraremos como a concepção do isso, segundo o próprio texto de Freud, foi determinante para que ele formulasse uma revisão da primeira tópica e a incorporasse em uma segunda tópica. Por fim, nas últimas duas partes, examinaremos o tratamento dado por Merleau-Ponty e Michel Henry à questão do corpo. Concluímos que é possível o encontro entre a psicanálise e a fenomenologia via a noção de eu-corpo freudiano; contudo, tal condução implicará reformulações em teses centrais da psicanálise. (shrink)

Following a trend in bioethical/applied ethics approaches, one of the frustrating features of studies on technological human enhancement is their dichotomous tendency. Often, benefits and risks of technological human enhancement are stated in theoretically and empirically vague, polarized, unweighted ways. This has blocked the debate in the problematic ‘pros vs. cons’ stage, leading to the adoption of extremist positions. In this paper, we will address one side of the problem: the focus on risks and the imprecise approach to them. What (...) motivates our approach is the identification of the weaknesses of the anti-enhancement criticism, which stem from its use of the concept of risk, as well as the heuristic of fear and the precautionary principle. Thus, ‘taking a step back’ to move forward in the debate, our purpose is to establish some theoretical foundations concerning the concept of risk, recognizing, at the same time, its complexity and importance for the debate. Besides the concept of risk, we emphasize the concept of existential risk, and we make some considerations about epistemic challenges. Finally, we highlight central features of more promising approaches to move the debate forward. Keywords: Human enhancement technologies, risk, uncertainty, conceptual problem, epistemic challenges. (shrink)

Dual process theory proposes clusters of features that form two dichotomous groups in cognition. One standing internal issue is defining what the reference of these two dichotomous groups could be in the mind or brain. Does dual process theory speak of two systems, types, minds, modes, kinds or just metaphors? A particular common answer is that differences in clusters of features are evidence of different underlying systems, often called system 1 and system 2. However, the suggestion to abandon the ‘system’ (...) terminology is now common in the literature, but the consequences of doing so need to be addressed. This work reviews and critically discusses previous suggestions. (shrink)

O presente artigo explica o que é e como funciona o método de análise lógica de Russell no contexto do atomismo lógico, apontando os objetivos e preceitos que ele leva em conta quando se propõe a fazer análises proposicionais. Após explorar o desenvolvimento geral da análise em sua obra, examinamos dois exemplos de análise proposicional: o de proposições relacionais e o de proposições que contêm descrições. Nos dois casos, notamos que Russell busca romper com uma lógica restrita à forma sujeito-predicado, (...) que ele pensava ser a origem de uma gramática defectiva e, por isso, também de muitos dos problemas metafísicos tradicionais. Neste sentido, presumindo que pode haver uma ampla variedade de formas, Russell pensa que o objetivo da análise seria justamente identificar qual é a forma lógica e quais são os constituintes de uma proposição, o que serviria para desfazer mal-entendidos da linguagem e dissolver problemas metafísicos. Portanto, no presente artigo, detalhamos sob quais preceitos teóricos Russell realiza esse objetivo nos dois exemplos especificados. (shrink)

One variety of love is familiar in everyday life and qualifies in every reasonable sense as a reactive attitude. ‘Reactive love’ is paradigmatically (a) an affectionate attachment to another person, (b) appropriately felt as a non-self-interested response to particular kinds of morally laudable features of character expressed by the loved one in interaction with the lover, and (c) paradigmatically manifested in certain kinds of acts of goodwill and characteristic affective, desiderative and other motivational responses (including other-regarding concern and a desire (...) to be with the beloved). ‘Virtues of intimacy’ as expressed in interaction with the lover are agent-relative reasons for reactive love, and like other reactive attitudes, reactive love generates reasons in its own right. Within a broad conception of the virtues, reactive love sheds light on the reactive attitudes more generally. (shrink)

In the Critique of Pure Reason Kant argues that the empirical knowledge of the world depends on a priori conditions of human sensibility and understanding, i. e., our capacities of sense experience and concept formation. The objective knowledge presupposes, on one hand, space and time as a priori conditions of sensibility and, on another hand, a priori judgments, like the principle of causality, as constitutive conditions of understanding. The problem is that in the XX century the physical science completely changed (...) how we conceive our knowledge of the world. Face to this new situation, what was changed in our classical reason? However, if the transcendental point of view is adopted, in the specific case of quantum mechanics, we have to wonder about the general conditions of this theory that make possible such knowledge, which predictive value is much more accurate than the classical physics. The aim of this work is firstly to show the Kantian implications on Bohr’s interpretation of quantum phenomena and secondly to provide an overview of the key elements for understanding the transcendental locus of ordinary language in the quantum mechanics context, in order to give support to a transcendental pragmatic position in the analysis of science. (shrink)

A Inteligência Artificial (AI) é a mais nova hype tecnológica. Embora envolva grande diversidade de tecnologias, uma imagem genérica, superpoderosa, fortemente negativa e, no limite, distópica da IA tem sido disseminada, especialmente por obras de ficção científica. Recentemente, sobretudo após o lançamento do ChatGPT, houve uma explosão de publicações jornalísticas e acadêmicas, que, em parte, reforçam esse imaginário. Nas abordagens acadêmicas, os riscos seguem em destaque e, inclusive, cenários apocalípticos relacionados à AI são levados em consideração. A preocupação ética, então, (...) assume um sentido eminentemente negativo e os possíveis benefícios das AIs, muito mais realistas, são subfocalizados. Neste artigo, destacamos a importância de ir além da hype, desenvolvendo abordagens multi/interdisciplinares, delimitadas, realistas e ponderadas. Recorrendo à inteligência coletiva expressa na interação entre pesquisadores de três áreas (ciência da computação, linguística e filosofia), abordamos uma ferramenta de tradução automática (Machine Translation) gratuita: Google Translate. Nosso objetivo é mostrar que abordagens bem delimitadas, multidisciplinares, tecnicamente respaldadas e que não adotem o discurso sensacionalista nos conduzem a reflexões epistemicamente mais consistentes e crítico-normativas mais ponderadas, o que seria fundamental para o avanço do debate sobre AI. (shrink)

Traditional epistemological reflection on our beliefs about the world attempts to proceed without presupposing or ineliminably depending upon any claims about the world. It has been argued that epistemological externalism fails to engage in the right way with the motivations for this project. I argue, however, that epistemological externalism satisfyingly undermines this project. If we accept the thesis that certain conditions other than the truth of one's belief must obtain in the world outside of one's mind in order for one (...) to have knowledge (or justified belief) about the world, then there is no good intellectual motivation for taking up the traditional project. This results stands even if we accept the traditional theses that knowledge requires justified belief and that justified belief requires the ability to provide good reasons for one's belief. (shrink)

As the world of technology increasingly intersects with humanity, one name stands out as a guide in this complex and ever-changing territory: James Hughes. In this interview, we had the opportunity not only to learn more about the author’s thinking and expertise, but also to explore the perspectives he brings on the technological future.

The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) proposed by Bernard Baars (1988) along with Daniel Dennett’s (1991) Multiple Drafts Model (MDM) of consciousness are renowned cognitive theories of consciousness bearing similarities and differences. Although Dennett displays sympathy for GWT, his own MDM does not seem to be fully compatible with it. This work discusses this compatibility, by asking if GWT suffers from Daniel Dennett’s criticism of what he calls a “Cartesian Theater”. We identified in Dennett 10 requirements for avoiding the Cartesian Theater. (...) We believe that some of these requirements are violated by GWT, but not all, hence there is partial incompatibility with MDM, and it is nonsense to answer if GWT is or is not a Cartesian Theater. However, by asking such question we conclude that the issues around this discussion involve fuzzy claims about degrees of consciousness and we show how the Neuro-Astroglial Interaction Model (NAIM) is fit for solving such conceptual issues. (shrink)

Dual Process Theory is currently a popular theory for explaining why we show bounded rationality in reasoning and decision-making tasks. This theory proposes there must be a sharp distinction in thinking to explain two clusters of correlational features. One cluster describes a fast and intuitive process, while the other describes a slow and reflective one. A problem for this theory is identifying a common principle that binds these features together, explaining why they form a unity, the unity problem. To solve (...) it, a hypothesis is developed combining embodied predictive processing with symbolic classical approaches. The hypothesis, simplified, states that Type 1 processes are bound together because they rely on embodied predictive processing whereas Type 2 processes form a unity because they are accomplished by symbolic classical cognition. To show that this is likely the case, the features of Dual Process Theory are discussed in relation to these frameworks. (shrink)

In the last thirty years, a relatively large group of cognitive scientists have begun characterising the mind in terms of two distinct, relatively autonomous systems. To account for paradoxes in empirical results of studies mainly on reasoning, Dual Process Theories were developed. Such Dual Process Theories generally agree that System 1 is rapid, automatic, parallel, and heuristic-based and System 2 is slow, capacity-demanding, sequential, and related to consciousness. While System 2 can still be decently understood from a traditional cognitivist approach, (...) I will argue that it is essential for System 1 processing to be comprehended in an Embodied Embedded approach to Cognition. (shrink)

A familiar form of scepticism supposes that knowledge requires infallibility. Although that requirement plays no role in our ordinary epistemic practices, Barry Stroud has argued that this is not a good reason for rejecting a sceptical argument: our ordinary practices do not correctly reflect the requirements for knowledge because the appropriateness-conditions for knowledge attribution are pragmatic. Recent fashion in contextualist semantics for 'knowledge' agrees with this view of our practice, but incorrectly. Ordinary epistemic evaluations are guided by our conception of (...) a person's standing with regard to the reasons that there are for and against the truth of a belief. Thus the objection from our ordinary practices is sound: fallibility is not an epistemological shortcoming, and a convincing sceptical argument must use only requirements which figure in ordinary epistemic practice. (shrink)

In this essay, I provide a reconstruction of the history of and surrounding the bust of Kant, together with its plaque, which jointly compose the monument created in honor of the sage of Königsberg at the Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences (FAFICH) of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In so doing, I have the following aims: first, to examine the relationship between the monument and the ideas that guided the creation of the Faculty (...) of Philosophy of Minas Gerais by one of its founders, Prof. Arthur Versiani Velloso; second, to highlight and register the authorship of this work by the plastic artist Frederico Bracher Júnior, as an important part of Kant’s international and indeed truly cosmopolitan iconography. (shrink)

Verbal fluency is a basic function of language that refers to the ability to produce fluent speech. Despite being an essentially linguistic function, its measurements are also used to evaluate executive aspects of verbal behavior. Performance in verbal fluency (VF) tasks varies according to age, education, and cognitive development. Neurodevelopmental disorders that affect the functioning of frontal areas tend to cause lower performance in VF tasks. Despite the relative consensus that has been reached in terms of the use of VF (...) tasks for the diagnosis of dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, few studies have considered regional variations in Brazil. The present study sought to provide normative data on VF tasks in children by considering gender, age, education, and geopolitical region of origin with auxiliary purposes in neuropsychological diagnosis of disorders that occur with executive changes The study included 298 participants, 7-10 years of age of both genders, who performed three letter fluency tasks and three category fluency tasks. The data were subjected to correlational and variance analyses, with age and gender as factors. No effect of gender on the children’s performance was found. However, significant differences between age groups were observed, with better performance in letter tasks in older children and better performance in letter tasks compared with category tasks. Significant regional differences in performance on the letter VF task were observed. These results reinforce the importance of regional normative data in countries with high regional cultural variations, such as Brazil. (shrink)

: Michael Gazzaniga, a prominent cognitive neuroscientist, has argued against reductionist accounts of cognition. Instead, Gazzaniga defends a form of non-reductive physicalism: epistemological neuro-cognitive non-reductionism and ontological monist physicalism. His position is motivated by the theses that: cognitive phenomena can be realized by multiple neural systems; many outcomes of these systems are unpredictable; and multi-level explanations are required. Epistemological neuro-cognitive non-reductionism is presented as the most appropriate stance to account for the way in which phenomena should be explained in cognitive (...) neuroscience. In this paper, I argue, however, that a recent form of neuro-cognitive reductionism, namely neo-mechanistic reductionism accounts for the arguments presented by Gazzaniga. Thus, the theory offers a more consistent and well-articulated view of the relationship between cognitive and neural phenomena that is specifically compatible with the explanatory strategies and aims of contemporary cognitive neuroscience. Keywords: Neo-mechanistic Philosophy; Michael Gazzaniga; Non-reductionism; Reductionism; Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience L’antiriduzionismo neurocognitivo di Michael Gazzaniga e la sfida della riduzione neomeccanicista Riassunto: Uno dei più importanti neuroscienziati dei nostri tempi, Michael Gazzaniga, si è schierato contro una concezione riduzionista della cognizione. Al contrario Gazzaniga difende una forma di fisicalismo non-riduzionistico che risulta dalla combinazione, sul piano epistemologico, di un anti-riduzionismo cognitivo e, sul piano ontologico, di un monismo fisicalista. La sua posizione è motivata dalla tesi per cui i fenomeni cognitivi possono essere realizzati da molteplici sistemi neurali; molti esiti di tali sistemi non si possono prevedere; e sono pertanto necessarie spiegazioni a livelli plurimi. La concezione presentata come più adeguata per dare conto sul piano epistemologico di come i fenomeni dovrebbero essere spiegati all’interno delle neuroscienze cognitive è una forma di anti-riduzionismo neuro-cognitivo. In questo articolo si sostiene tuttavia che una recente forma di riduzionismo neuro-cognitivo può dare conto degli argomenti presentati da Gazzaniga. Si tratta di una teoria che offre una interpretazione maggiormente coerente ed articolata della relazione fra fenomeni cognitivi e neurali e che offre un modello di spiegazione compatibile con gli scopi esplicativi delle neuroscienze cognitive contemporanee. Parole chiave: Filosofia neomeccanicista; Michael Gazzaniga; Nonriduzionismo; Riduzionismo; Filosofia della neuroscienza cognitiva. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In the current debate between scientific realism and empiricism, both sides seem to embrace some sort of structuralism as an important component of their descriptions of science. The structural realism is generally presented in two versions: one ontic and the other epistemic. It has been argued that that epistemic structural realism is close, if not identical, to a Kantian approach. We aim to show that this is not the case, since ESR, being fundamentally a realist position, cannot be fully (...) consistent with a transcendental approach. Such a position is better called transcendental structuralism, an alternative that we believe is worth being investigated on its own. In this paper, we will take Henry Allison's interpretation of transcendental idealism as a starting point to establish the distinctions between ESR and TS.RESUMO No debate atual entre realismo científico e empirismo, ambos os lados parecem abraçar algum tipo de estruturalismo como um componente importante de suas descrições sobre a ciência. O realismo estrutural é geralmente apresentado em duas versões: uma ôntica e outra epistêmica. Tem-se argumentado que o realismo estrutural epistêmico, por sua vez, é próximo, se não idêntico, a uma abordagem kantiana. Nosso objetivo neste artigo é mostrar que esse não é o caso. Sendo o ESR fundamentalmente uma posição realista, queremos defender que ele não pode ser totalmente compatível com uma abordagem transcendental. Uma posição kantiana mais coerente é aqui defendida sob o nome de estruturalismo transcendental. Neste artigo, partiremos da interpretação de Henry Allison do idealismo transcendental para estabelecer as devidas distinções entre ESR e TS. (shrink)