Philosophy of Science: Biochemistry, Neuroscience, and Psychological States

FAIN: FT-53657-05

Kenneth Lee Aizawa
Centenary College of Louisiana (Shreveport, LA 71104-3335)

In the 1960's, Hilary Putnam speculated that psychological states could be realized in many different underlying physical and chemical states. Since then there have been vast advances in biochemistry and neuroscience. Recent philosophical attention to this science has used it to argue that Putnam’s empirical speculations have been unsupported, challenged, or even falsified. This project will use this science to argue that contemporary biochemistry and neuroscience support Putnam’s empirical speculations.