In this wide-ranging book, one of the boldest thinkers in modern neuroscience confronts an ancient philosophical problem: can we know the world as it really is?
Drawing on provocative new findings about the psychophysiology of perception and judgment in both human and nonhuman primates, and also on the cultural history of science, Jean-Pierre Changeux makes a powerful case for the reality of scientific progress and argues that it forms the basis for a coherent and universal theory of human rights. On this view, belief in objective knowledge is not a mere ideological slogan or a naïve confusion; it is a characteristic feature of human cognition throughout evolution, and the scientific method its most sophisticated embodiment. Seeking to reconcile science and humanism, Changeux holds that the capacity to recognize truths that are independent of subjective personal experience constitutes the foundation of a human civil society.
Jean-Pierre Changeux, author of the classic Neuronal Man, is Director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, Professor in the Collège de France, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Thinking Matter
2. The Acquisition of Knowledge
3. States of Consciousness
4. Knowledge and Social Life
5. From Genes to Brain
6. Neuronal Epigenesis and Cultural Evolution
7. Scientific Research and the Search for Truth
8. The Humanity of Science
Conclusion
Notes
Credits
Acknowledgments
Index
What People are Saying About This
Jean-Pierre Changeux is a man of universal mind, at home equally in philosophy, linguistics, social psychology, neuroscience, molecular biology and computer modelling. The Physiology of Truth is a joy to read, a thrilling book, in which we are guided by Changeux's lucid prose and effortless range of references and perspectives towards what the 21st century clearly promises: a radical understanding, in neurophysiological terms, of how perception, exploration, trial and error, cognitive games, and the cultural sharing of language and consciousness can provide us with representations of reality that are both reliable and profound.
Gerald Weissmann
Jean-Pierre Changeux has given modern science--and democracy as well--the philosophy they deserve and need. His lucid book explains how the biological revolution has made it possible to understand how language, truth, and morals precipitate from our molecular matrix of genes and gene products. It rescues the secular ideals of reductionist science from a quicksand of arguments from design. Written for scientist and layman alike, The Physiology of Truth places Changeux squarely in the ranks of scientific polymaths who have given lie to the myth of "two cultures." It's a spirited work of intellectual synthesis carried off with verve and wit. — Gerald Weissmann, NYU School of Medicine, author of The Year of the Genome: A Diary of the Biological Revolution
Roger Guillemin
One of the great neuroscientists of our day looks anew at age old problems which since Plato have been the purview of philosophers. A must read and deeply moving in its implications. — Roger Guillemin, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 1977 Nobel Laureate in Medicine
Oliver Sacks
Jean-Pierre Changeux is a man of universal mind, at home equally in philosophy, linguistics, social psychology, neuroscience, molecular biology and computer modelling. The Physiology of Truth is a joy to read, a thrilling book, in which we are guided by Changeux's lucid prose and effortless range of references and perspectives towards what the 21st century clearly promises: a radical understanding, in neurophysiological terms, of how perception, exploration, trial and error, cognitive games, and the cultural sharing of language and consciousness can provide us with representations of reality that are both reliable and profound. — Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales
Antonio Damasio
In The Physiology of Truth, Jean-Pierre Changeux uses the remarkable progress of neuroscience to outline a personal view of how human beings should relate to their physical and cultural surroundings. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the role that science can play in human flourishing. — Antonio Damasio, neuroscientist and author of Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain and The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness
