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Mazviita Chirimuuta is a philosopher at the University of Edinburgh. Today we discuss topics from her new book, The Brain Abstracted: Simplification in the History and Philosophy of Neuroscience.
She largely argues that when we try to understand something complex, like the brain, using models, and math, and analogies, for example - we should keep in mind these are all ways of simplifying and abstracting away details to give us something we actually can understand. And, when we do science, every tool we use and perspective we bring, every way we try to attack a problem, these are all both necessary to do the science and limit the interpretation we can claim from our results. She does all this and more by exploring many topics in neuroscience and philosophy throughout the book, many of which we discuss today.
0:00 - Intro
5:28 - Neuroscience to philosophy
13:39 - Big themes of the book
27:44 - Simplifying by mathematics
32:19 - Simplifying by reduction
42:55 - Simplification by analogy
46:33 - Technology precedes science
55:04 - Theory, technology, and understanding
58:04 - Cross-disciplinary progress
58:45 - Complex vs. simple(r) systems
1:08:07 - Is science bound to study stability?
1:13:20 - 4E for philosophy but not neuroscience?
1:28:50 - ANNs as models
1:38:38 - Study of mind
