전통적으로 철학은 인간을 탐구하는 데에서 주도적인 역할을 해왔으며, 오늘날에 이르기까지 ‘이성중심적·의식중심적(주체중심적)·자유의지적·인간중심적 인간상’을 구축해왔다. 그러나 이러한 철학적 인간상은 철학 내에서 그리고 실증과학들에 의하여 여러 차례 도전을 받아왔다. 오늘날의 뇌과학은 기존의 정신과학, 특히 철학이 다루어오던 지각, 인식, 사유, 감정, 의식, 언어, 행위, 자유의지 등등의 문제에 대하여 가장 실증적이고 강력한 듯한 대답을 제시하면서, 전통적 인간상에 충격을 가하고 있다. 뇌과학이 몰고 오는 지식혁명은 인접학문들 사이의 경계를 허물며 21세기 문명을 주도해가는 핵심 코드를 만들어낼 것이다. 필자의 이 논문에서의 과제는 철학적 인간상에 도전해오는 뇌과학의 쟁점들을 검토하며 신경철학의 과제를 생각해보는 것이다. 필자는 다음의 다섯 가지 쟁점만을 논의하고자 한다: 몸과 정신을 탐구하는 방법에 대하여; 뇌와 의식의 관계에 대하여; 자아는 뇌 속의 유령에 불과한가?; 감정과 무의식이 이성과 의식을 지배하는가?; 자유의지는 허구에 불과한가?

Throughout its long history, the main stream of philosophy has provided a view which defines human being as a rational being, an autonomous actor, a being of free will, a unique being beyond all other beings in the universe. This view has been attacked several times by empiricism in philosophy and by other empirical sciences like psychology, biology, and sociobiology. The brain science of our time begins to explain the problems of perception, cognition, emotion, language, behavior, free will, and the like which until recently belonged to the realm of philosophy. Its powerful empirical findings seem to shake the main philosophical understanding of human nature and to create issues which determine the twenty-first century sciences and civilization. In this paper, I will focus on five main issues: On the research methods; On the relationship between brain and consciousness; Do emotion and unconsciousness control reason and consciousness?; Is the self nothing more than an illusion?; Is free will an illusion?

Throughout its long history, the main stream of philosophy has provided a view which defines human being as a rational being, an autonomous actor, a being of free will, a unique being beyond all other beings in the universe. This view has been attacked several times by empiricism in philosophy and by other empirical sciences like psychology, biology, and sociobiology. The brain science of our time begins to explain the problems of perception, cognition, emotion, language, behavior, free will, and the like which until recently belonged to the realm of philosophy. Its powerful empirical findings seem to shake the main philosophical understanding of human nature and to create issues which determine the twenty-first century sciences and civilization. In this paper, I will focus on five main issues: On the research methods; On the relationship between brain and consciousness; Do emotion and unconsciousness control reason and consciousness?; Is the self nothing more than an illusion?; Is free will an illusion?

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brain science, neurophilosophy, research method, brain, consciousness, self, reason, emotion, unconsciousness, free will