Skip to main content

Can the Two Cultures Reconcile? Reconstruction and Neuropragmatism

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Handbook of Neurosociology

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

The conflict between the sciences and the humanities results from an implicit endorsement by most scientists and humanists of representationalist theories of truth. I argue that a pragmatic account of truth, as modified by John Dewey’s notion of philosophical reconstruction, affords us the means of reaching rapprochement. I draw on the work of C. P. Snow, Jerome Kagan, and Edward Slingerland to develop a neurophilosophical pragmatist account of how to reconstruct the relationship between the two cultures. I draw on recent work on mirror neuron systems and suggest that a new metaphor for thinking about consciousness may serve well the reconstructive project.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Chemero, A. (2009). Radical embodied cognitive science. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cozolino, L. (2006). The neuroscience of human relationships: Attachment and the developing social brain. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. 1910 (1988). How we think. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The middle works of John Dewey (Vol. 6). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. 1920/1948 (1988). Reconstruction in philosophy. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The middle works of John Dewey (Vol. 12). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. 1925/1929 (1988). Experience and nature. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The later works of John Dewey (Vol. 1). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. 1929 (1988). The quest for certainty. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The later works of John Dewey (Vol. 4). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. 1938 (1988). Logic: The theory of inquiry. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The later works of John Dewey (Vol. 12). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. 1948 (1988). Introduction: Reconstruction as seen Twenty-Five Years Later in reconstruction in philosophy. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The middle works of John Dewey (Vol. 12). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franks, D. (2010). Neurosociology: The nexus between neuroscience and social psychology. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, L. (2001). Philosophical tools for technological culture. In S. Rice (Ed.), Philosophy of education 2001. Urbana: Philosophy of Education Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, L. (2007a). Some strange things they say about pragmatism: Robert Brandom on the pragmatists’ semantic ‘mistake’. Cognition, 8(1), 105–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, L. (2007b). Pragmatism as post-postmodernism: Lessons from John Dewey. New York: Fordham University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1907). Pragmatism. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kagan, J. (2009). The three cultures: Natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities in the 21st century. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McCumber, J. (2001). Time in the ditch: American philosophy and the McCarthy Era. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockwell, W. T. (2005). Neither brain nor ghost: A nondualist alternative to mind-brain identity theory. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockwell, W. T. (2011). Beyond eliminative materialism: Some unnoticed implications of Churchland’s pragmatic pluralism. Contemporary Pragmatism, 8(1), 173–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulkin, J. (2000). Roots of social sensibility and neural function. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulkin, J. (2004). Bodily sensibility: Intelligent action. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulkin, J. (2006). Effort: A behavioral neuroscience perspective on the will. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulkin, J. (2009). Cognitive adaptation: A pragmatist perspective. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellars, W. (1963). Philosophy and the scientific image of man. In W. Sellars (Ed.), Science, perception and reality (pp. 1–40). Atascadero: Ridgeview Publishing Company, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shook, J., & Solymosi, T. (2012). Neuropragmatism: A way forward. In J. Giordano (Ed.), Neuroscience, neurotechnology, and neuroethics. New York/Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slingerland, E. (2008). What science offers the humanities: Integrating body and culture. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Snow, C. P. 1959 (1998). The two cultures. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solymosi, T. (2011a). Neuropragmatism, old and new. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 10(3), 347–368. (published online April 2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solymosi, T. (2011b). A reconstruction of freedom in the age of neuroscience: A view from neuropragmatism. Contemporary Pragmatism, 8(1), 153–171.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tibor Solymoski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Solymoski, T. (2013). Can the Two Cultures Reconcile? Reconstruction and Neuropragmatism. In: Franks, D.D., Turner, J.H. (eds) Handbook of Neurosociology. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4473-8_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics