Resumo

STANLEY B, Klein. Images and Constructs: Can the Neural Correlates of Self be revealed through Radiological Analysis. int.j.psychol.res. [online]. 2013, vol.6, n.spe, pp.117-132. ISSN 2011-2084.

In this paper I argue that radiological attempts to elucidate the properties of self -- an endeavor currently popular in the social neurosciences -- are fraught with conceptual difficulties. I first discuss several philosophical criteria that increase the chances we are posing the "right" questions to nature. I then discuss whether these criteria are met when empirical efforts are directed at one of the central constructs in the social sciences - the human self. In particular, I consider whether recent attempts to map the neural correlates of self and its assumed properties using brain scanning technology satisfy the conceptual conditions minimally required to ask well-formed, theoretically satisfying questions of nature. I conclude that much theoretical work remains to be done.

Palavras-chave : Philosophy of science; self; theory; social neuroscience; neuroimaging.

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