Carl F. Craver

John Bickle

Ann-Sophie Barwich

This volume establishes the conceptual foundation for sustained investigation into tool development in neuroscience. Neuroscience relies on diverse and sophisticated experimental tools, and its ultimate explanatory target—our brains and hence the organ driving our behaviors—catapults the investigation of these research tools into a philosophical spotlight. The chapters in this volume integrate the currently scattered work on tool development in neuroscience into the broader philosophy of science community. They also present an accessible compendium for neuroscientists interested in the broader theoretical dimensions of their experimental practices. The chapters are divided into five thematic sections. Section 1 discusses the development of revolutionary research tools across neuroscience’s history and argues to various conclusions concerning the relationship between new research tools and theory progress in neuroscience. Section 2 shows how a focus on research tools and their development in neuroscience transforms some traditional epistemological issues and questions about knowledge production in philosophy of science. Section 3 speaks to the most general questions about the way we characterize the nature of the portion of the world that this science addresses. Section 4 discusses hybrid research tools that integrate laboratory and computational methods in exciting new ways. Finally, Section 5 extends research on tool development to the related science of genetics. The Tools of Neuroscience Experiment will be of interest to philosophers and philosophically minded scientists working at the intersection of philosophy and neuroscience.

Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives

The Tools of Neuroscience Experiment

Alcino J. Silva

Anthony Landreth

Science is growing at a pace that exceeds our comprehension. This is no less true of neuroscience than any other discipline. Ambiguity about what is known and what has been disproven confounds researchers and hampers research planning. There are simply too many research articles and too few hours in the day for anyone to read all that is relevant, let alone distinguish the reliable results from the sketchy ones. Engineering the Next Revolution in Neuroscience explores the proposal that we can overcome these obstacles to scientific progress, and revolutionize neuroscience, by using a framework to map the experimental record. With case studies from learning and memory research, the authors show that we can construct networks of experimental research that make the state of our knowledge manifest. Armed with maps of experiments, scientists can determine more efficiently what their fields have accomplished and where the unexplored territories still reside.

The New Science of Experiment Planning

Engineering the Next Revolution in Neuroscience

This title is a collection of interdisciplinary research from contributors including both philosophers and neuroscientists. Topics covered include the neurobiology of learning and memory perception and sensation, neurocomputational modelling neuroanatomy, neuroethics, and neurology and clinical neuropsychology

John Bickle

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