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How might a “philosopher’s toolkit” help advance neuroscience? Let’s ask some neuroscientists
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  • John Bickle,
  • Patricia Churchland,
  • Stuart Firestein,
  • Michael Lehman,
  • David Parker,
  • Alcino Silva,
  • Bradley Walters,
  • Robert Williams
John Bickle
Mississippi State University College of Arts and Sciences

Corresponding Author:jbickle@philrel.msstate.edu

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Patricia Churchland
University of California San Diego
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Stuart Firestein
Columbia University
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Michael Lehman
Kent State University
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David Parker
Univ Cambridge
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Alcino Silva
UCLA
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Bradley Walters
The University of Mississippi Medical Center
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Robert Williams
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
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Abstract

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.
Submitted to European Journal of Neuroscience
Submission Checks Completed
Assigned to Editor
Reviewer(s) Assigned
28 Jun 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
07 Dec 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor