Prof. Tarhan: "There is a need for a bridge between mental processes and the function of the brain”

In the '1st International Neurophilosophy Symposium', the concepts of consciousness, mind and philosophy were discussed in all aspects.

At the symposium, the global authority in neurophilosophy, Professor Patricia Churchland, was the keynote speaker, while Professor Sultan Tarlacı, who conducts scientific research in this field in our country, was also among the speakers of the symposium.

President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that neurophilosophy is a new field and that a lot of new information will emerge in this field. Stating that there are enough scientific reasons to hold a symposium on neurophilosophy in Türkiye, Tarhan said that "If learning new things excites people, something new will come out of it." Tarhan also emphasized that there is a need for a bridge between mental processes and the functioning of the brain.

Professor Nazife Güngör, emphasizing that it is no coincidence to add "neuro" to the beginning of every scientific and intellectual movement or action, stated that "Humanity has gathered all the data it has. With all of this, as human beings, we will try to understand and make sense of ourselves, the world, and the universe."

Professor Deniz Ülke Kaynak stated that "In today's world, we are actually experiencing a real Renaissance once again, where interdisciplinarity takes center stage, where nothing can be understood in isolation, and where new fields are emerging in which spirituality and materialism can coexist simultaneously. Neurophilosophy will be widely discussed, and we will begin to explore it as well."

'1st International Neurophilosophy Symposium' was held with the participation of important names in the field at Üsküdar University South Campus Fuat Sezgin Conference Hall.

The opening speeches of the symposium, which was broadcast live on ÜÜ TV and Üsküdar University YouTube account, were made by Üsküdar University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Philosophy Department Head Prof. Çiğdem Yazıcı, Üsküdar University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Dean Prof. Deniz Ülke Kaynak, Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör and President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan.

Prof. Tarhan: "There are enough scientific justifications now..."

Stating that some innovations in this life are related to good goals, results and bold decisions taken on time, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "There is now enough scientific justification to hold the first symposium on neurophilosophy in Türkiye. Therefore, we decided to do this. I would like to thank all our professors in the philosophy department, especially Çiğdem Yazısı, Sultan Tarlacı and the organizing committee who believed in this issue and embraced it."

Reminding the physicists and cognitive psychiatrists who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies on 'fundamental discoveries and inventions that make machine learning possible with artificial neural networks', Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "There is a need for a bridge between mental processes and the functioning of the brain. How do we decide? How do we make moral decisions? What is free will? What is consciousness? All these are mental processes. And these mentalizations, these mental processes, exist only in humans among primates. Highly autistic individuals are also unable to mentalize and produce theory of mind. The inability to produce theory of mind is a function of the brain."

Prof. Tarhan: "The brain is the new space of science. It must reveal the causal relationship between the brain and philosophy."

Emphasizing that neurophilosophy is a new field, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that a lot of new information will emerge in this field and continued his remarks as follows:

"Artificial intelligence, which already mimics the human brain, is currently at a serious level. Just as electricity has changed human life, artificial intelligence will make that change. It is inevitable. Here, too, is the new universe, the new space of science, the brain. We must uncover and find the causal relationship between the brain and philosophy. Is the mind a quantum field? What is consciousness? This is one of the topics of discussion. After a person is born, the skin cells in the body change in 20 days, and in 6 months, other inorganic substances come instead of the inorganic substances in the whole body. The cells are still, but the fundamentals are changing. However, consciousness does not change. How can inanimate atoms give rise to a conscious human being? Is the human mind an interface between the brain and the soul? Given all this, I think physicists are likely to participate in the discussion of neurophilosophy. If learning new things excites you, something new will come out of it. Today, I see a team here that is excited and enjoys learning new things and tries to bring it into the scientific flow. We are doing the first neurophilosophy symposium, I hope we will repeat it next year and turn the presentations into a book."

Prof. Güngör: "Neuro is s not a fashion, or not a trend, but it is a fact."

Referring to the concept of 'neuro' in her opening speech, Prof. Nazife Güngör said that "It is necessary to think about whether the concept of neuro is the magic word of recent years. Neuro has become an important scientific and intellectual paradigm in recent years." Stating that it is not a coincidence to put a 'neuro' at the head of our scientific and intellectual movement or action, Prof. Nazife Güngör continued her remarks as follows:

"Neuro is s not a fashion, or not a trend, but it is a fact. This is the point where thought and science have come. As a result, the focus began on the human brain. Because there are so many things that have not been discovered. The depths of the brain, all its areas, have not yet been penetrated. Both thought and science came together there and concentrated there. Today, artificial intelligence technology is also focused on the brain. Thanks to this, all scientific disciplines began to reunite, to come together again. We are also experiencing a period of reintegration, re-entering an interdisciplinary process."

Prof. Güngör: "Humanity has brought together all the data it has"

Reminding that separation emerged with modernization, Prof. Nazife Güngör said that "At the point we have reached now, science and thought are moving towards a re-recovery, re-integration, and an interdisciplinary process with the neuron at the center. All sciences are now feeding off each other. We all started to feed from this pool."

Emphasizing that great attention should be paid to the introduction of this new paradigm into thought and scientific life, Prof. Nazife Güngör said that "Humanity has brought together all the data it has, both science and scientific disciplines. It seems to me that one will try to understand and make sense oneself, the world and the universe as a human being as a whole, together with all of the materials and possibilities. Therefore, these will be discussed in this symposium as well."

Prof. Kaynak: "This field will grow as humanity learns more."

Prof. Deniz Ülke Kaynak, in her speech, expressed great pleasure in hosting such a symposium as the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Kaynak stated, "As a university, under the leadership of Prof. Nevzat, we are an institution that loves to do new things, to be talked about." Kaynak continued her remarks as follows: "We bring out topics that have been locked away for thousands of years, sometimes hidden in treasure chests, and discuss them. Sometimes, we discuss entirely new topics, subjects that no one has ever talked about before. However, the most important feature of our approach is that we discuss them together. We aim to create a meeting point by fostering interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary discussions."

Prof. Deniz Ülke Kaynak also mentioned that the logic of science itself follows this model of collaboration and stated the following remarks:

"In the beginning of science, with Aristotle and Pythagoras, sciences start together and progress in unity, but then they diverge. They begin to develop separately. However, in today's world, we are actually experiencing a real Renaissance once again, a rebirth; we are developing new fields where interdisciplinarity takes center stage, where nothing can be understood in isolation, and where spirituality and materialism can coexist simultaneously. Neurophilosophy will be widely discussed, and we will start to explore it. It is a field where neither what is said is fully understood nor what is said is completely and accurately stated. In other words, it will grow on its own, and as humanity learns more, it will continue to grow. Who knows what new things we will learn about neuro. We have produced many ideas by combining psychology with politics, in the context of political psychology. We are now developing many new perspectives."

Prof. Tarlacı: "Soul-body debates have been the focus of philosophers since ancient times"

Within the scope of the symposium, 'What is Neurophilosophy? Making a presentation on 'A Short Introduction', Prof. Sultan Tarlacı, Instructor at the Department of Neurology of the Faculty of Medicine, said that "In a period of time that we have been looking for almost since ancient times, we see a title and an area of interest called 'philosophy of mind'."

Sharing the information that almost all philosophers have touched on this subject or have written at length, Prof. Sultan Tarlacı stated that "One of the issues that philosophers dealt with the most, in relation to free will, goodness, evil, responsibility for crime, free will, moral philosophy and ethics in philosophy, philosophy of aesthetics and beauty, language, philosophy of logic, philosophy of theology and belief, philosophy of time-space. Although the soul-body debates, which have been one of the important topics of philosophy since ancient times, have turned into mind, consciousness and brain discussions today, they have been the focus of philosophers of mind for many years. How will philosophy overcome these unsolved ancient problems that have been going on for 2,500 years? Will we be able to get out of the firmament? Will we be able to see Heaven as knowledge, will we be able to access it? This is an unsolvable question. Topics such as soul-body, consciousness-brain-mind discussions, and free will are also included in this question."

The main speech of the symposium was made by Prof. Patricia Churchland

The keynote speech at the symposium was delivered by Prof. Patricia Churchland, the global authority on neurophilosophy. Prof. Churchland presented a talk titled "The Origins and New Directions of Neurophilosophy," in which she addressed the issue of ethics and philosophy.

Highlighting what philosophy has to say about ethics, Prof. Churchland mentioned that American biologist Edward Wilson stated, "The evolution of human sociality is the fundamental dilemma of biology," and she discussed how he has been trying to solve the question of why humans are social beings.

Prof. Patricia Churchilland also talked about the evolution of moral philosophy until the 2000s.

Prof. Patricia Churchcland said that "Darwin says in his book published in 1871 that people's understanding of morality focuses on 3 things, one of which is social instincts. We are born with the instinct to be social. We develop a problem-solving mechanism by developing some behaviors and skills. Darwin also explains that social behaviors are seen in many mammal species. We observe that social skills are also present in animals. For many years, philosophy had the assumption that only people behaved in this way. However, the sociability of each species is shaped around its own environment."

Stating that philosophers recommend doing the right thing for the highest benefit, Prof. Patricia Churchland also explained the evolution of moral philosophy until the 2000s.

At the symposium, Prof. Lütfü Hanoğlu gave a lecture titled "Philosophy for Neuroscience, Neuroscience for Philosophy: Cognitive Ontology", Dr. Saffet Murat Tura "The Penfield Experiment and Neils Bohr's Principle of Complementarity: An Epistemological Approach to the Problem of Consciousness", Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Talay Turner "Philosophy of Emotions and Neurophilosophy" Dr. Merve Arlı Özekes "Neurophilosophy and the Question of Well-Being in Aristotle's Thought", Assist. Prof. M. Kaan Özkan "A Neurophilosophical Essay on the Origin of Phenomenal Experience", Doğa Merve Karataş "A Common Language for Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience: Neurophilosophy" Assist. Prof. Baver Demircan gave a speech titled "Neurophilosophy and Social Consciousness".

At the symposium, Prof. Lütfü Hanoğlu presented his speech titled "Philosophy for Neuroscience, Neuroscience for Philosophy: Cognitive Ontology," Dr. Saffet Murat Tura gave a presentation on "The Penfield Experiment and Niels Bohr's Principle of Complementarity: An Epistemological Approach to the Problem of Consciousness," Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Talay Turner discussed "The Philosophy of Emotions and Neurophilosophy," Dr. Merve Arlı Özekes presented "Neurophilosophy and the Question of Well-being in Aristotle's Thought," Asst. Prof. M. Kaan Özkan made a speech titled "A Neurophilosophical Attempt on the Origins of Phenomenal Experience," Doğa Merve Karataş discussed "A Common Language for Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience: Neurophilosophy," and Asst. Prof. Baver Demircan gave a presentation on "Neurophilosophy and Social Consciousness."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)