At the '1st International Neurophilosophy Symposium,' the concepts of consciousness, mind, and philosophy were discussed in all their aspects.
At the symposium, globally recognized authority in neurophilosophy and keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland, was present, alongside Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı, who conducts scientific studies in this field in our country.
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that neurophilosophy is a new field and that many new insights will emerge from it. Emphasizing that sufficient scientific rationale has developed in Turkey to hold a symposium on neurophilosophy, Tarhan said, “If learning new things excites people, then something new will emerge from it.” Tarhan also underlined the need for a bridge between mental processes and brain function.
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör stated that it is no coincidence to put 'neuro' at the beginning of all our scientific and intellectual endeavors, adding, “Humanity has gathered all the data at its disposal. With all of it, as humans, we will try to understand and make sense of ourselves, the world, and the universe.”
Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Kaynak: “In today's world, we are actually experiencing a true Renaissance again, where interdisciplinarity comes to the forefront, where nothing is understandable on its own, and we are starting to develop new areas where spirituality and materialism can coexist simultaneously. Neurophilosophy will be much discussed, and we will begin to understand it.”
The '1st International Neurophilosophy Symposium,' held at Üsküdar Üniversitesi South Campus Fuat Sezgin Conference Hall, took place with the participation of prominent figures in the field.
The opening speeches of the symposium, which was also broadcast live on ÜÜ TV and Üsküdar Üniversitesi YOUTUBE channel, were delivered by Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Yazıcı, Head of the Philosophy Department at Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Kaynak, Dean of Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör, Rector of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, and Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector and Chairman of the Board of Üsküdar Üniversitesi.
Prof. Dr. Tarhan: “Sufficient scientific rationale has now been established…”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, stating that some innovations in life are related to good goals, results, and timely courageous decisions, said, “In Turkey, sufficient scientific rationale has now been established to hold the first symposium on neurophilosophy. For this reason, we decided to do it. I thank all our instructors in the philosophy department who believed in and supported this, especially Prof. Çiğdem and Prof. Sultan, and the organizing committee.”
Reminding the physicist and cognitive psychologist scientists who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on ‘fundamental discoveries and inventions enabling machine learning with artificial neural networks,’ Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “There is a need for a bridge between mental processes and brain function. How do we make decisions? How do we make moral decisions? What is free will? What is consciousness? All of these are mental processes. And this mentalization, these mental processes, exist only in humans among primates. Severely autistic individuals also cannot perform mentalization or produce a theory of mind. The inability to produce a theory of mind is a function of the brain.”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan: “The new space of science is the brain. We must definitely uncover the causal relationship between the brain and philosophy”
Emphasizing that neurophilosophy is a new field, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that many new insights will emerge in this area and continued his words as follows:
“Currently, artificial intelligence that imitates the human brain is at a serious level. Just as electricity changed human life, artificial intelligence will bring about that change. This is inevitable. Here, the new universe, the new space of science, is the brain. We must definitely 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, skin cells in the body change in 20 days, and in 6 months, other inorganic substances replace all inorganic substances in the body. Cells remain, but fundamental things change. But 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?
Considering all this, I think physicists will most likely join the neurophilosophy discussions. If learning new things excites people, then something new will emerge from it. Today, I see a team here that is excited, enjoys learning new things, and tries to present them to the scientific flow. We are holding the first neurophilosophy symposium, and I hope we will repeat it next year and turn the presentations into a book.”
Prof. Dr. Güngör: “Neuro; it’s not a fashion, not a trend, it’s a reality”
Addressing the concept of 'neuro' in her opening speech, Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör said, “It is necessary to consider 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 no coincidence to put 'neuro' at the beginning of all our scientific and intellectual endeavors, Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör continued as follows:
“This is not a fashion, not a trend; this is a reality. This is actually the point where thought and science have arrived. Ultimately, it was reached, and the focus began on the human brain. Because there are many undiscovered things. The depths and all areas of the brain have not yet been explored. Both thought and science converged there and concentrated on it. Today, artificial intelligence technology has also focused on the brain. Thanks to this, all scientific disciplines have started to recombine, come together again. We are also experiencing a period of renewed integration, entering an interdisciplinary process once more.”
Prof. Dr. Güngör: “Humanity has gathered all the data at its disposal”
Reminding that separation emerged with modernization, Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör said, “At the point we have reached now, with science and thought placing the neuron at the center, we are moving towards a renewed recovery, a renewed integration, an interdisciplinary process. All sciences now feed off each other. We have all started to feed from this pool.”
Emphasizing that great attention should be paid to the entry of this new paradigm into thought and scientific life, Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör said, “Humanity has gathered all the data at its disposal, both science and scientific disciplines. It seems to me that with all the material and opportunities available, humanity will holistically try to understand and make sense of itself, the world, and the universe once again. Therefore, these topics will also be discussed at this symposium.”
Prof. Dr. Kaynak: “This field will grow as humanity learns”
Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Kaynak expressed great happiness in holding such a symposium as the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“As a university, under the leadership of Professor Nevzat, we are an institution like this; we love to do new things, we love to be discussed.” said Kaynak, “We take out thousands of years old topics, sometimes stuck in a treasure chest, and discuss them. Sometimes we discuss brand new topics, topics that no one has ever discussed before. But our most important feature when doing these is that we discuss them together. That is, we try to do it by creating an inter-scientific, interdisciplinary meeting.”
Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Kaynak, stating that the logic of science is also this working model, said the following:
“At the starting point of science, in Aristotle, in Pythagoras, sciences begin together and continue together, then diverge. They start to develop differently from each other. But in today's world, we are actually experiencing a true Renaissance again, a rebirth; where interdisciplinarity comes to the forefront, where nothing is understandable on its own, and we are starting to develop new areas where spirituality and materialism can coexist simultaneously. Neurophilosophy will be much discussed, and we will begin to understand it. And it is a field where neither what is said is properly understood, nor what is said is complete and exhaustive. So this is something that will grow on its own, and it will grow as humanity learns. Who knows what brand new things we have learned about neuro. By bringing psychology and politics together, we have produced many things in the context of political psychology. We are now developing many new perspectives.”
Prof. Dr. Tarlacı: “Mind-body discussions have been the focus of philosophers since ancient times”
Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı, a faculty member of the Department of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, who gave a presentation titled ‘What is Neurophilosophy? A Brief Introduction’ within the scope of the symposium, said, “In a time frame we have been searching for almost since ancient times, we see a title, an area of interest called ‘philosophy of mind.’”
Sharing the information that almost all philosophers have touched upon this subject or have extensive writings on it, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said, “Among the topics philosophers most frequently dealt with within the philosophy of mind were free will, good, evil, responsibility for crime, ethics in philosophy related to free will, aesthetic and philosophy of beauty, language, philosophy of logic, theology and philosophy of belief, and the philosophy of space-time. Although mind-body discussions, one of the important topics of philosophy since ancient times, have transformed into discussions of mind, consciousness, and brain today, they have been the focal point of philosophers of mind for many years. How will philosophy overcome these unresolved ancient problems that have continued for 2,500 years? Can we go beyond the celestial sphere? Can we see Heaven as knowledge, can we reach it? This is an unsolvable question. Topics such as mind-body, consciousness-brain-mind discussions, and free will are also included in this question.”
Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland delivered the symposium's keynote speech
Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland, a global authority in neurophilosophy and the symposium's keynote speaker, delivered a presentation titled 'The Origins and New Directions of Neurophilosophy.' Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland addressed the issue of morality and philosophy.
Highlighting what philosophy says about morality, Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland stated that American biologist Edward Wilson said, 'the evolution of human sociality is the fundamental dilemma of biology,' and he tried to solve why humans are social beings.
Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland also explained the evolution of moral philosophy up to the 2000s…
Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland said, “In his book published in 1871, Darwin states that human understanding of morality focuses on three things, one of which is social instincts. We are born with a social instinct. We develop problem-solving mechanisms by developing certain behaviors and skills. Darwin also explains that social behaviors are observed in many mammalian species. We observe that social skills also exist in animals. For many years, philosophy had assumptions that only humans exhibited such behaviors. However, the sociality of each species is shaped by its own environment.”
Prof. Dr. Patricia Churchland, also stating that philosophers advised doing the right thing in a way that maximizes benefit, explained the evolution of moral philosophy up to the 2000s.
At the symposium, Prof. Dr. Lütfü Hanoğlu spoke on “Philosophy for Neuroscience, Neuroscience for Philosophy; Cognitive Ontology,” Dr. Saffet Murat Tura on “The Penfield Experiment and Niels Bohr’s Principle of Complementarity: An Epistemological Approach to the Problem of Consciousness,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Talay Turner on “Philosophy of Emotions and Neurophilosophy,” Dr. Merve Arlı Özekes on “Neurophilosophy and the Question of Well-being in Aristotle’s Thought,” Dr. Lect. M. Kaan Özkan on “A Neurophilosophical Essay on the Origin of Phenomenal Experience,” Doğa Merve Karataş on “Neurophilosophy: A Common Language for Philosophy of Mind and Neuroscience,” and Dr. Lect. Baver Demircan on “Neurophilosophy and Social Consciousness.”