Patricia Churchland
To understand the mind we must study the brain: philosophy must work with neuroscience.
Life
Canadian-American philosopher (born 1943), professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego. With Paul Churchland she defends eliminative materialism and founds "neurophilosophy": to understand mind, consciousness or morality, one must study the brain. She argues that our moral sense is rooted in the biology of social mammals.
Main works
Argues that philosophy of mind must draw on neuroscience.
Presents questions about mind, free will and consciousness in light of the brain.
Explains morality through the brain's mechanisms of attachment and care.
In his own words
« Although many philosophers used to dismiss the relevance of neuroscience on grounds that what mattered was “the software, not the hardware”, increasingly philosophers have come to recognize that understanding how the brain works is essential to understanding the mind. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceKnowledge is a natural process of the brain, to be studied by science rather than deduced from pure reason.
Churchland, Neurophilosophy (1986)
Mental states are brain states; folk psychology is a theory that neuroscience will refine or replace.
Churchland, Neurophilosophy (1986)
Morality grows out of the brain's capacity for attachment and social bonding, not from a rule or a calculation.
Churchland, Braintrust (2011)