CFS Lecture by Joseph Neisser: "How to put the 'neuro' in 'neurophenomenology'"

Lecture by Joseph Neisser, Department of Philosophy, Grinnell College, USA.

Abstract

Rapid advances in neuroscience have spurred the emergence of a “neurobiological image” of mind and person that promises to alter our understanding of ourselves as biological creatures. Neurophenomenology is an attempt to relate this new image to subjectivity. But In its official form, Neurophenomenology® remains at odds with natural science because the relation between experience and biology remains formal and descriptive. The way forward for neurophenomenology is to combine a phenomenological analysis of the genesis of the first-person perspective with the use of comparative and historical methods in systems biology, collectively dubbed homology thinking. Putting the neuro in neurophenomenology is the project of making phenomenology continuous with evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and affective neuroscience, and part of a common investigation into the biological basis of the first-person perspective.