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1Organicist and Mechanistic Metaphors in the Early Days of NeuroscienceMetatheoria – Revista de Filosofía E Historia de la Ciencia 14 (1): 33-46. 2023.In his work, Michael Ruse underscores the significance of metaphors in science, with a particular focus on the “abyss” between mechanistic and organicist metaphors in the history and practice of biology. Ruse posits that the Darwinian revolution involved a radical “metaphor shift” in biology, transitioning from organicism to mechanism. In this article, I set out several objectives (i) to assess whether the neuronist revolution, pivotal in the inception of neuroscience, involved a shift from an o…Read more
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19The open texture of functions: a framework for analyzing functional concepts in molecular biologySynthese 204 (159): 1-24. 2024.In recent times, the exponential growth of sequenced genomes and structural knowledge of proteins, as well as the development of computational tools and controlled vocabularies to deal with this growth, has fueled a demand for conceptual clarification regarding the concept of function in molecular biology. In this article, we will attempt to develop an account of function fit to deal with the conceptual/philosophical problems in that domain, but which can be extended to other areas of biology. T…Read more
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16Conceptual Change and Tool Development: The Challenges of the Neurosciences to the Philosophy of Scientific RevolutionsRevista de Humanidades de Valparaíso 20 165-181. 2022.The determining role that tool development plays in neuroscientific progress poses special challenges to the Kuhnian-rooted philosophy of scientific change. Some philosophers of neuroscience argue that revolutions in neuroscience do not involve paradigm shifts, but instead depend exclusively on technical or experimental innovation. By studying the historical episode of the discovery of the neuron (1873-1909), I argue that revolutions in neuroscience, like many other laboratory revolutions, are f…Read more
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23Explicación funcional y análisis sistémicoCuadernos Filosóficos / Segunda Época 19. 2022.En este artículo sostenemos que, en aquellos casos en los cuales la capacidad _ explanandum _ de un análisis sistémico o mecanicista constituye una función biológica, globalmente, la función explica la estructura y no a la inversa, a pesar de que en algunos casos particulares, el orden en que se determinan los conceptos participantes en la explicación no coincide con el orden de la explicación. Para defender esta tesis, adoptaremos una concepción mínima de explicación basada en la idea de subsun…Read more
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1566History of Behavioral Neurology (2nd ed.)In Sergio Della Sala (ed.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 1, Elsevier. 2022.This chapter provides a brief overview of the history of behavioral neurology, dividing it roughly into six eras. In the ancient and classical eras, emphasis is placed on two transitions: firstly, from descriptions of head trauma and attempted neurosurgical treatments to the exploratory dissections during the Hellenistic period and the replacement of cardiocentrism; and secondly, to the more systematic investigations of Galenus and the rise of pneumatic ventricular theory. In the medieval throug…Read more
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9Wiring optimization explanation in neuroscienceTheoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 34 (1): 89-110. 2019.This paper examines the explanatory distinctness of wiring optimization models in neuroscience. Wiring optimization models aim to represent the organizational features of neural and brain systems as optimal (or near-optimal) solutions to wiring optimization problems. My claim is that that wiring optimization models provide design explanations. In particular, they support ideal interventions on the decision variables of the relevant design problem and assess the impact of such interventions on th…Read more
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2083En este trabajo sostengo que la concepción mecanicista no captura la relevancia explicativa de la ley de polarización dinámica de Cajal. La relevancia explicativa de la ley se fundamenta en su rol como principio de diseño neuronal. Como tal, la ley nos brinda acceso epistémico a intervenciones ideales, conceptualmente posibles, sobre la localización de los diversos componentes de los centros nerviosos, y nos permiten evaluar el impacto de esas intervenciones sobre las condiciones de viabilidad d…Read more
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24Representaciones mentales, representaciones neutonales y el enigma de la intencionalidad: Acerca de representaciones mentales de Liza SkidelskyAnálisis Filosófico 38 (2): 209-220. 2018.En Representaciones mentales, Liza Skidelsky se propone poner de manifiesto la completa escisión que existe entre los fenómenos de la intencionalidad de los estados mentales y el contenido de las representaciones mentales. Por un lado, la autora defiende una elucidación internista del contenido de las representaciones mentales postuladas por la ciencia cognitiva. Por otro lado, nos propone concebir la intencionalidad como un fenómeno vinculado al lenguaje y a las prácticas comunicativas. Esta re…Read more
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547Wiring optimization explanation in neuroscience: What is Special about it?Theoria : An International Journal for Theory, History and Fundations of Science 1 (34): 89-110. 2019.This paper examines the explanatory distinctness of wiring optimization models in neuroscience. Wiring optimization models aim to represent the organizational features of neural and brain systems as optimal (or near-optimal) solutions to wiring optimization problems. My claim is that that wiring optimization models provide design explanations. In particular, they support ideal interventions on the decision variables of the relevant design problem and assess the impact of such interventions on th…Read more
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477Variedades de la explicación en evo-devoEpistemologia E Historia de la Ciencia 3 (1): 18-31. 2018.The aim of this paper lies in characterizing the explanations and models used in the field of evolutionary developmental biology throughout its history. While manipulative experiments in controlled conditions have been useful to set the bases of the discipline and are still routinely performed, this approach supposes a tension between the reliability and the representativity of the conclusions. Given the recent changes in the understanding of evolutionary phenomena, different authors currently e…Read more
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458Functional Analyses, Mechanistic Explanations, and Explanatory TradeoffsJournal of Cognitive Science 14 229-251. 2013.Recently, Piccinini and Craver have stated three theses concerning the relations between functional analysis and mechanistic explanation in cognitive sciences: No Distinctness: functional analysis and mechanistic explanation are explanations of the same kind; Integration: functional analysis is a kind of mechanistic explanation; and Subordination: functional analyses are unsatisfactory sketches of mechanisms. In this paper, I argue, first, that functional analysis and mechanistic explanations ar…Read more
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478Multiple Realization, Levels and MechanismsTeorema: International Journal of Philosophy 36 (2): 53-68. 2017.This paper focuses on the framework for the compositional relations of properties in the sciences, or "realization relations", offered by Ken Aizawa and Carl Gillett (A&G) in a series of papers, and in particular on the analysis of "multiple realizations" they build upon it. I argue that A&G's analysis of multiple realization requires an account of levels and I try to show, then, that the A&G framework is not successful under any of the extant accounts of levels. There is consequently a real co…Read more
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755Cajal’s Law of Dynamic Polarization: Mechanism and DesignPhilosophies 3 (2): 11. 2018.Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the primary architect of the neuron doctrine and the law of dynamic polarization, is considered to be the founder of modern neuroscience. At the same time, many philosophers, historians, and neuroscientists agree that modern neuroscience embodies a mechanistic perspective on the explanation of the nervous system. In this paper, I review the extant mechanistic interpretation of Cajal’s contribution to modern neuroscience. Then, I argue that the extant mechanistic interpret…Read more
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16The Architecture of Cognition: Rethinking Fodor and Pylyshyn's Systematicity Challenge (review)Análisis Filosófico 34 (2): 229-233. 2014.
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19Cuestiones filosóficas. Ensayos en honor de Eduardo RabossiCuadernos de Filosofía 56 105-109. 2011.
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56Un análisis crítico de la concepción mecanicista de la explicaciónRevista Latinoamericana de Filosofia 38 (2): 233-265. 2012.En este trabajo me propongo desarrollar un estudio crítico de la concepción mecanicista de la explicación científica. En primer lugar, argumento que la caracterización mecanicista de los modelos fenoménicos (no explicativos) es inadecuada, pues no ofrece un análisis aceptable de los conceptos de modelo científico y similitud, que son fundamentales para la propuesta. En segundo lugar, sostengo que la caracterización de los modelos mecanicistas (explicativos) es igualmente inadecuada, pues los aná…Read more
Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Neuroscience |
History of Neuroscience |