Neural Darwinism and the origins of human consciuoness: A dialectic critique
Abstract
This article examines Neural Darwinism (ND) proposed as an explanation of evolution of human consciousness. His methodology is contrasted with that used by Richard Lewontin, Richard Levins, and Steven Rose, who made important contributions to the study of living systems from a dialectical point of view. We conclude that the interactionist explanation of the evolution of conscience put forward in ND overcomes many of the deficiencies proper to biological determinism. However, as ND also shares many of the foundations of the Cartesian approach, it maintains a non-historical character, insufficient for the account of human consciousness. We suggest the adoption of an alternative theory, able to fully explain human conscience which must consider the whole of existing relations in it, and, instead of merely considering them as interactions, they have to be observed as dialectical interpenetrations.Downloads
References
Burns, Tom R. y Erik Engdahl (1998), “The social construction of consciousness. Part 2: Individual selves, self-awareness, and reflectivity”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 5, núm. 2, pp. 166-184.
Casati, Roberto (1998), “Qualia”, en Houdé Oliver, Daniel Kayser, Oliver Koenig, Joëlle Proust y Francois Rastier (eds.), Diccionario de ciencias cognitivas, Buenos Aires, Amorrortu, p. 359.
De Gortari, Eli (1972), Introducción a la lógica dialéctica, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Fondo de Cultura Económica.
De Waal, Frans (2006), Primates y filósofos. La evolución de la moral del simio al ser humano, Barcelona, Paidós.
Dupré, John (2001), Human Nature and the Limits of Science, Nueva York, Clarendon Press.
Edelman, Gerald (2006a), Second Nature. Brain Science and Human Knowledge, Londres, Yale University Press.
Edelman, Gerald (2006b), “Theories and measures of consciousness: An extended framework”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, vol. 103, núm. 28, pp. 10799-10804.
Edelman, Gerald (2003), “Naturalizing consciousness: A theoretical framework”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, vol. 100, núm. 9, pp. 5520-5524.
Edelman, Gerald (1992), Bright Air, Brilliant Fire, Nueva York, Harper Collins Publishers.
Edelman, Gerald (1989), The Remembered Present. A Biological Theory of Consciousness, Nueva York, Basic Books.
Edelman, Gerald (1988), Topobiology. An Introduction to Molecular Embriology, Nueva York, Basic Books.
Edelman, Gerald (1987), Neural Darwinism. The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection, Nueva York, Basic Books.
Edelman, David y Anil K. Seth (2009), “Animal consciousness: A synthetic approach”, Trends in Neuroscience, vol. 32, núm. 9, pp. 476-484.
Edelman, David, Bernard J. Baars y Anil K. Seth (2005), “Identifying hallmarks of consciousness in non-mammalian species”, Consciouness and Cognition, vol. 14, núm. 1, pp. 119-139.
Edelman, Gerald y Giulio Tononi (2002), El universo de la conciencia, Barcelona, Drakontos.
Edelman, Gerald y Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle (1978), The Mindful Brain: Cortical Organization and the Group Selective Theory of Higher Brain Function, Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press.
Focquaert, Farah, Johan Braeckman y Steven M. Platek (2008), “An evolutionary cognitive neuroscience perspective on human self-awareness and theory of mind”, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 21, núm. 1, pp. 47-68.
Freud, Sigmund (2000 [c. 1923]), El yo y el ello, Madrid, Alianza Editorial.
Fromm, Erich (2009 [c. 1961]), Marx y su concepto del hombre, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Fromm, Erich (1985 [c. 1941]), El miedo a la libertad, México, Planeta.
Gould, Stephen Jay (1997), La grandeza de la vida, Barcelona, Crítica
Gould, Stephen Jay y Elisabeth Vrba (1982), “Exaptation-a missing term in the science of form”, Paleobiology, vol. 8, núm. 1, pp. 4-15.
Gould, Stephen Jay y Richard Lewontin (1979), “The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist program-me”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, vol. 205, núm. 1161, pp. 581-598.
Heidegger, Martin (1992), La Fenomenología del espíritu de Hegel, Madrid, Alianza Editorial.
Ingold, Tim (2000), “Evolving kills”, en Rose Hilary y Rose Steven (eds.), Alas, Poor Darwin, Londres, Vintage, pp. 254-259.
Laland, Kevin N., Tobias Uller, Marcus W. Feldman, Kim Sterlny, Gerd B. Müller, Armin Moczeck, Eva Jabloka y John Odling-Smee (2015), “The extended evolutionary synthesis: Its structure, assumptions and predictions”, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 282, núm. 1813, pp. 1-14.
Levins, Richard (2007), “Dialectics and systems theory”, en Richard Lewontin y Richard Levins, Biology under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture and Health, Nueva York, Monthly Review Press, pp. 102-124.
Levins, Richard y Richard Lewontin (1985), The Dialectical Biologist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
Lewontin, Richard (1991), Biology as Ideology, Nueva York, Harper Collins Books.
Lewontin, Richard y Richard Levins (1997), “The biological and the social”, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, vol. 8, núm. 3, pp. 89-92.
Lewontin, Richard, Steven Rose y Leon J. Kamin (2003 [c. 1984]), No está en los genes, Barcelona, Crítica.
Lukács, Georg (1969 [c. 1923]), Historia y conciencia de clase, México, Grijalbo.
Marx, Karl (1968 [c. 1844]), Manuscritos económico-filosóficos de 1844, México, Grijalbo.
Mayr, Ernst (2001), What Evolution is?, Londres, Orion Books.
Muñoz-Rubio, Julio (2006), Sociobiología: pseudociencia para la hegemonía capitalista, México, Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Oyama, Susan, Paul E. Griffi ths y Russell D. Gray (eds.), (2001), Cycles of Contingency, Boston, MA, The MIT Press.
Richardson, Robert C. (1982), “The ‘scandal’ of cartesian interactionism”, Mind, vol. XCI, pp. 20-37.
Robbins, Philip (2008), “Consciousness and the social mind”, Cognitive Systems Research, vol. 9, núms. 1-2, pp. 15-23.
Rose, Steven (2001), Trayectorias de vida. Biología, libertad, determinismo, Barcelona, Granica.
Rose, Steven (1987), Molecules and Minds. Essays on Biology and the Social Order, Milton Keynes, Open University Press.
Sacristán, Manuel (1964), “La tarea de Engels en el ‘Anti-Dühring’”, en Friedrich Engels, Anti-Dühring, México, Grijalbo.
Seth, Anil, Bernard Baars y David Edelman (2005), “Criteria for consciousness in humans and other mammals”, Consciouness and Cognition, vol. 14, núm. 1, pp. 119-139.
Warminski, Andrzej (1995), “Hegel/Marx: Consciousness and life”, Yale French Studies, vol. 88, pp. 118-141.
