ABSTRACT

Recent advances in neuroscience not only lead to a better understanding of neurologic and psychiatric diseases and developments of novel treatment strategies, but also provide valuable tools to reveal neurobiological mechanisms underlying higher cortical functions of healthy brain. Currently, understanding and explanation of complex mental functions that distinguishes human beings from other living organisms such as, thinking, planning, desicion making and predicting future seem possible. Those developments shed light in to the mind-body problem and generate new issues that need to be discussed collectively by many diciplines studying the brain and mind such as neurology, psychiatry, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, neuroimaging, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and theology. This paper includes abstracts of lectures presented in the ‘Mind Problem: From Biology to Philosophy’ symposium organized by Gazi University Neuropsyciatry Research Center between September 22nd - 23rd 2006 at Gazi University. The aim of the neurophilosophy symposium is to provide a platform for biological and social scientists to share their perspectives on mind concept. We hope that this interactive meeting would lead to a new synthesis in participants mind and raise new queries to search. Consistent with the aim of the symposium, each presentation is given with different subtitles in the paper.