PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINAR, J, B i c k l e

Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University Budapest, Pazmany P. setany 1/A PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINAR (http://hps.elte.hu/seminar) ________________________________________________ 1* October 4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54 (Language: English) J o h n B i c k l e Department of Philosophy and Neuroscience Graduate Program University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA Multiple realization, meet molecular neuroscience In the philosophy of mind, multiple realization refers to the claim that one and the same logical kind (property, state, event) is realized in vastly different physical kinds that share nothing of explanatory relevance in common. Although puzzles about the realization relation remain, this claim has acquired consensus status as a true and important premise in an argument against all forms of psychoneural reduction and type identity. In this paper, I challenge the truth of multiple realization based on some recent discoveries in cellular and molecular neuroscience shared across a variety of species and forms of learning and memory. From sensitization and aversive conditioning in fruit flies and sea slugs through hippocampal-mediated memories for context in mammals, the same "second messenger" intracellular biochemical pathway and molecular genetic process underlies specifically the "consolidation switch" from short-term to long-term memory. Furthermore, this single example illustrates a general principle of evolutionary conservatism at the cellular/molecular level that we can expect to find at work in the mechanisms for all psychological processes. Multiple realization, meet molecular neuroscience. The biochemical and molecular-genetic details that carry the bulk of the argument here will be unfamiliar to many philosophers and cognitive scientists. But they reflect the current state of our scientific knowledge. These details thus serve a useful secondary purpose: they inform scientifically-inspired philosophers and cognitive scientists about recent developments in the cellular and molecular core of current mainstream neuroscience. _________ * The organizer of the seminar wants to apologize to the lecturer and the participants for being absent from the talk of 1 October, because of the ESF Workshop, Bertinoro, Italy. The organizer of the seminar: László E. Szabó -- Laszlo E. Szabo Department of Theoretical Physics Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University, Budapest H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32, Hungary Phone/Fax: (36-1)372-2924 Home: (36-1) 200-7318 Mobil/SMS: (36) 20-366-1172 http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo