Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge.SECOND NATURE: Brain Science and Human Knowledge GERALD M. EDELMAN Epistemology epistemology (ĭpĭs'təmŏl`əjē) [Gr.,=knowledge or science], the branch of philosophy that is directed toward theories of the sources, nature, and limits of knowledge. Since the 17th cent. , of the study of knowledge, was a largely philosophical exercise historically. However, recent advances in neuroscience neu·ro·sci·ence n. Any of the sciences, such as neuroanatomy and neurobiology, that deal with the nervous system. neuroscience the embryology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology of the nervous system. have made more tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. than ever the prospect of scientifically explaining consciousness and how we come to understand the world, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Edelman, the 1972 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Below is a list of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Swedish: Nobelpriset i fysiologi eller medicin) from 1901 to the present.[1] . He explains that although consciousness is a "first-person" experience, it is possible to study it with scientific objectivity. Furthermore, the implications of a scientific model of consciousness include the possibility of a device that could experience the world as people do. He explains that the brain is not a computer. Instead, brain connections are formed anew and selected in response to inputs from the body and from the outside world. He reviews the latest research in brain-based approaches to consciousness, creativity, and mental illness. Yale Univ. Press, 2006, 203 p., hardcover, $24.00. |
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