2024/12/19 by Sergio Daniel Barberis · 2 voices
Neuroscience · #Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function
paper · pdf · doi:10.48160/18532330me14.354
openalex publication_date 2024/12/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
In his work, Michael Ruse underscores the significance of metaphors in science, with a particular focus on the “abyss” between mechanistic and organicist metaphors in the history and practice of biology. Ruse posits that the Darwinian revolution involved a radical “metaphor shift” in biology, transitioning from organicism to mechanism. In this article, I set out several objectives (i) to assess whether the neuronist revolution, pivotal in the inception of neuroscience, involved a shift from an organicist metaphor to a mechanistic one; (ii) to highlight the indispensable influences of organicist metaphors in Cajal’s neuron doctrine; and, consequently, (iii) to challenge the idea of an abyss between mechanistic and organicist metaphors, at least, in neuroscience.