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Making life and mind as clear as possible, but not clearer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2022

Alex Gomez-Marin Open the ORCID record for Alex Gomez-Marin [Opens in a new window]
Alex Gomez-Marin*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH), 03550 San Juan Alicante, Spainagomezmarin@gmail.comhttps://behavior-of-organisms.org/@behaviOrganisms
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Abstract

Neuroscience needs theory. Ideas without data are blind, and yet mechanisms without concepts are empty. Friston's free energy principle paradigmatically illustrates the power and pitfalls of current theoretical biology. Mighty metaphors, turned into mathematical models, can become mindless metaphysics. Then, seeking to understand everything in principle, we may explain nothing in practice. Life can't live in a map.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e196
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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