Georg Northoff: The self and its brain – a neurophilosophical perspective

Neuroaesthetics | Symposium


Symposium im ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie,
22.-24. November 2012
In Kooperation und mit Unterstützung der Gemeinnützigen
Hertie-Stiftung.


The ego of a person is central for its perception of the
environment, including
various cultures. In philosophy, the concept of the ego has been
frequently
discussed under the term “self” or “subject”. Recently,
psychology and
neuroscience have also begun to study the self. This gives rise
to the question, to what extent the dependence of the self on a
cultural context is mirrored in the neural activity of the brain.
My contribution explores these findings and issues, and considers
the self in the context of brain and culture. It concludes by
discussing the implications of these results for our
self-understanding as self, subject, and human being.

Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Georg Northoff studied medicine and
philosophy in
Hamburg, Essen, Bochum, and New York. He was Professor of
Neuropsychiatry
and Neurophilosophy and Director of the Laboratory for Imaging
and
Neurophilosophy at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg.
Since 2009, he holds the Chair of Mind, Brain, and Neuroethics
Research at the University of Ottawa,Canada, which was created
especially for him. Dr. Northoff’s goal is to establish
neurophilosophy as a separate discipline that is independent from
philosophy and neuroscience.