Abstract
There are compelling reasons for an experimental scientist to avoid philosophical issues, yet equally compelling matters that demand his attention to them. Many neurobiologists already feel so distracted from their research by the duties imposed by their institutions and the technical management of their laboratories that they are impatient with the further distraction of philosophical debate. In any case, some of the problems raised by philosophers (can we really know anything?, can we prove anything?, can we disprove anything?) seem either meaningless or unanswerable and certainly, as Dr. Johnson’s acquaintance commented, cheerless. There seems little to be gained by spending time on them; better get on with our experiments.
I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don’t know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.
Oliver Edwards, in Boswell’s Johnson, April 17, 1778.
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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
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Stone, J. (1983). Epistemological Background. In: Parallel Processing in the Visual System. Perspectives in Vision Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4433-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4433-9_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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