Facchin, Marco (2023) Neural Representations Unobserved - or: a dilemma for the cognitive neuroscience revolution. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Neural structural representations are cerebral map- or model-like structures that structurally resemble what they represent. These representations are absolutely central to the “cognitive neuroscience revolution”, as they are the only type of representation compatible with the revolutionaries’ mechanistic commitments. Crucially, however, these very same commitments entail that structural representations can be observed in the swirl of neuronal activity. Here, I argue that no structural representations have been observed being present in our neuronal activity, no matter the spatiotemporal scale of observation. My argument begins by introducing the “cognitive neuroscience revolution” (§1) and sketching a prominent, widely adopted account of structural representations (§2). Then, I will consult various reports that describe our neuronal activity at various spatiotemporal scales, arguing that none of them reports the presence of structural representations (§3). After having deflected certain intuitive objections to my analysis (§4), I will conclude that, in the absence of neural structural representations, representationalism and mechanism can’t go together, and so the “cognitive neuroscience revolution” is forced to abandon one of its commitments (§5).
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Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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Keywords: | Structural representations, Eliminativism, Neuroscience, Mechanistic explanation, Neurocognitive revolution | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations Specific Sciences > Neuroscience |
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Depositing User: | Dr. Marco Facchin | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 13 Nov 2023 03:25 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 13 Nov 2023 03:25 | ||||||
Item ID: | 22770 | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations Specific Sciences > Neuroscience |
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Date: | 2023 | ||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22770 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Neural Representations Unobserved - or: a dilemma for the cognitive neuroscience revolution. (deposited 17 May 2023 13:52)
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Neural Representations Unobserved - or: a dilemma for the cognitive neuroscience revolution. (deposited 18 May 2023 15:11)
- Neural Representations Unobserved - or: a dilemma for the cognitive neuroscience revolution. (deposited 13 Nov 2023 03:25) [Currently Displayed]
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Neural Representations Unobserved - or: a dilemma for the cognitive neuroscience revolution. (deposited 18 May 2023 15:11)
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