CJO - Abstract - Of skyhooks and the coevolution of scientific disciplines

Cambridge Journals Online

Cambridge Journals Online
Behavioral and Brain Sciences (1999), 22 : 836-837 Cambridge University Press
Copyright © 1999 Cambridge University Press
doi:10.1017/S0140525X99292199 (About doi)
Behavioral and Brain Sciences (1999), 22:5:836-837 Cambridge University Press
Copyright © 1999 Cambridge University Press


Open Peer Commentary
Gold & Stoljar: A neuron doctrine

Of skyhooks and the coevolution of scientific disciplines


Donald R. Franceschetti a1
a1 Department of Physics and Institute for Intelligent Systems, The University of Memphis, Memphis TN 38152 dfrncsch@memphis.edu

Abstract

The history of the natural sciences repeatedly shows that the unification of a higher level theory with a lower level theory by reduction does not eliminate the need for the higher level theory nor preclude its further development, leading to changes in the understanding of the lower level. The radical neuron doctrine proposes that the future science of psychology or linguistics will derive principally from the evolution of understanding at the neural level and not from current theories based on the observation of behavior. It is far more likely that the two bodies of theory will coevolve in semiautonomous fashion.



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