Neuroscience and Society
The Focus Group investigates interdisciplinary issues at the interface between neuroscience and the humanities. It explores the relevance of neuroscientific research for the humanities and social sciences - and vice versa. The fact that human behaviour and actions are being increasingly attributed to neuronal processes poses challenges for the humanities and social sciences, whose areas of expertise have so far included such questions, but also offers the opportunity for interdisciplinary research. Crossing disciplinary boundaries opens up unexpected perspectives here, so that subject-specific questions can be given a new perspective and answers can be found together. The Focus Group aims to promote an exchange between neurosciences and cognitive sciences, psychiatry and the humanities and social sciences such as philosophy and literary studies and thus follows the tradition of the "CIN Dialogues at the Interface of the Neurosciences and the Arts and Humanities" (www.cin.uni-tuebingen.de / https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/218658) co-organised by the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neurosciences and the College of Fellows. The Focus Group intends to provide a place for interdisciplinary dialogue and cross-disciplinary collaboration at the University of Tübingen, where internationally renowned neuroscience meets strong humanities and social sciences. It is organising its activities in the summer semester 2024 around the stay and research work of Prof. Vittorio Gallese, who will be visiting Tübingen in the summer semester 2024 as a Humboldt Research Award winner.
People
Professor Andreas Bartels
Neuroscience/Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Vision and Cognition
Professor Vittorio Gallese
Neurophysiology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Neuroscience and Philosophy of Mind/University of Parma/Unit of Neuroscience, Dept. of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Italy/Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York, USA
Professor Thomas Gasser
Neurosciences/University Hospital, Department of Neurology
Professor Dorothee Kimmich
Literary cultural studies/Department of German Studies
Professor Monique Scheer
Historical and Cultural Anthropology/Vice-President of International Affairs and Diversity
PD Dr Niels Weidtmann
Interkulturelle Philosophie/College of Fellows
Professor Felix Wichmann
Neuroscience, Cognitive Science/Computer Science, Neuronal Information Processing/Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Tübingen
Professor Dirk Wildgruber
Neurowissenschaften/Psychiatrie/Universitätsklinikum, Arbeitsgruppe Affektive Neuropsychiatrie
Professor Hong Yu Wong
Philosophy with a focus on Cognitive Science/Department of Philosophy
Fellow/Guest Professor
Professor Vittorio Gallese
Neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, social neuroscience and philosophy of mind University of Parma, Division of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery | Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York, USA Prof. Dr Vittorio Gallese will be a guest at the University of Tübingen in the summer semester of 2024 as part of a Humboldt Research Award.
Short CV
Vittorio Gallese, Professor of Psychobiology at the Università degli Studi di Parma since 2006, is recognised as one of the world's leading experts in the field of social neuroscience. He was Professor of Experimental Aesthetics at the University of London (2016-2018), Einstein Visiting Fellow at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain (2016-2020), KOSMOS Fellow at the Humboldt University of Berlin (2013-2014) and Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA (2002). Gallese is an expert in neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, social neuroscience, and philosophy of mind and one of the discoverers of mirror neurons. In his research, he seeks to understand the functional organisation of brain mechanisms underlying social cognition, such as empathy and sympathy, language, and aesthetic experience. His interdisciplinary work incorporates findings and approaches from philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience.
Events
The Focus Group "Neuroscience and Society" is planning regular meetings. If you are interested, please contact niels.weidtmann@uni-tuebingen.de.