When we attempt to define human nature, we tend to refer to features and behaviour that are products of the mind: language, emotions, creative capacity, altruistic and collaborative conduct, conscience, et cetera. Nonetheless, we still know very little about how these qualities have developed to the point of becoming attributes that characterise the human species. The mind/brain duality established by modern western science and influenced by the Christian distinction between body and soul, has been superseded by the discoveries of neuroscience and we now know that mind and brain are inseparable. Indeed, scientists and philosophers presently affirm that the human mind, with all its capacities, is the fruit of biological evolution and subject to the same adaptive criteria as other aspects of life. What do we know, then, about what really makes us human? What happens in our mind/brain when we are able to speak, create and be moved?
On the occasion of Spain’s Year of Neuroscience, this debate offers an approximation to the latest advances in neuroscientific research and its consequences for our notions of what defines us as human beings.
More info: CCCB
