Summary
Might psychology someday be reduced to (that is, be exhaustively explained by) computational neurobiology? Many still say no. We approach this question through a brief survey of some prominent intertheoretic reductions drawn from the history of science. A general characterization of reduction is constructed from these, and some important philosophical and methodological lessons are drawn. The five most popular objections to the possibility of a neurobiological reduction of psychology are then addressed, and defeated.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Churchland, P.M., Churchland, P.S. (1992). Intertheoretic Reduction: A Neuroscientist’s Field Guide. In: Christen, Y., Churchland, P.S. (eds) Neurophilosophy and Alzheimer’s Disease. Research and Perspectives in Alzheimer’s Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46759-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46759-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-46761-5
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