Robustness, causation, and mechanisms: A new look at the relation betweepsychological and neural properties.

One of the central topics in modern philosophy is the relation between the mind and the brain. This topic has been traditional studied within the discipline of philosophy of mind, which has focused on analyzing common-sense psychological states (such as beliefs and desires) and consciousness. However, one distinctive feature of traditional philosophy of mind is that little attention has been paid to developments in philosophy of science, or indeed science itself. This may not be a problem as such, but if the goal is to develop a scientifically relevant account of mental and neural properties as they are studied and defined by psychologists and neuroscientists, it is crucial to consider both actual science and the most recent developments in philosophy of science. The objective of this project is to develop such an account. In order to get a clear understanding of the status of psychological properties and their relation to the neural properties, we need answers to three key questions: In what sense are psychological properties real? How is it possible that psychological properties cause bodily behavior? How exactly are psychological properties related to the underlying neural mechanisms? The project will answer these questions by combining the perspectives of philosophy of mind and philosophy of science. This will result in a novel conceptual framework, useful to both scientists and philosophers, for analyzing psychological properties and their relation to neural mechanisms.