MIND/BRAIN/BEHAVIOR INITIATIVE
Cover: The Physiology of Truth: Neuroscience and Human Knowledge, from Harvard University PressCover: The Physiology of Truth in PAPERBACK

The Physiology of Truth

Neuroscience and Human Knowledge

Product Details

PAPERBACK

Print on Demand

$31.00 • £26.95 • €28.95

ISBN 9780674032606

Publication Date: 03/31/2009

Academic Trade

336 pages

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

39 halftones, 28 line illustrations

Belknap Press

Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative

World

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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.

Awards & Accolades

  • 2004 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, Rockefeller University

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