Week 7 | Neuroscience + Art | Maya Srinivasan
The topic for this week (neuroscience and its connections to art) reminded me of a philosophical problem I learned about in one of my previous classes. The 'brain in a vat' scenario, an interpretation of Cartesian skepticism, is essentially the idea of choosing to believe (for the sake of the scenario) that your entire being simply consists of a brain that is connected to wires and controlled by a scientist. The scientist can mimic the real world, making it so you believe that you're a real human being. The result of this scenario forces the individual to ask themselves if "all of [their] beliefs about the external world are false," requiring a deep analysis of what consciousness truly is (Hickey).
A comic depicting the 'brain in a vat' scenario |
Hippocampus by Tamily Weissman |
Cerebellum and Brainstem by Greg Dunn |
Bernicker, Brendan, et al. “Thought Experiments .” Thought Experiments, Penn State University, 28 Jan. 2016, https://sites.psu.edu/bernickerpassionblog/2016/01/28/brain-in-a-vat/.
Dunn, Greg, and Linda Codega. “Elucidating the Nature of Human Consciousness through Art.” Garrison Institute, 19 Oct. 2017, https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/blog/human-consciousness-art/.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Santiago Ramón y Cajal.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 Apr. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Santiago-Ramon-y-Cajal.
Hickey, Lance P. “The Brain in a Vat Argument.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2022, https://iep.utm.edu/brain-in-a-vat-argument/.
Ilyenok, Olesya, et al. “Pt9 - AF:CFFIIV.” Vimeo, 9 May 2022, https://vimeo.com/333039838.
Jung, Carl. “The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man.” The Collected Works, 1928, pp. 219–233., https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203721049-20.
Leman, Jennifer, and Liz Tormes. “The Brain in Images: Top Entries in the Art of Neuroscience.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 29 July 2019, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brain-in-images-top-entries-in-the-art-of-neuroscience1/.
Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience + Art Lecture 1 .” Neuroscience + Art . 10 May 2022.
Weissman, Tamily. “Cell Picture Show - Hippocampus.” CellPress, 2007, https://www.cell.com/pictureshow/brainbow.
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