Posted by Chairman_MAO on May 11, 2005, at 20:30:21
In reply to Re: Mode of action unknown / MAO » Chairman_MAO, posted by Larry Hoover on May 9, 2005, at 9:59:45
Yeah, I dig it. I think you're referring to what philosophers also like to call a "virtus dormitiva" explanation. That term originates supposedly from a professor hundreds of years ago who, when asked by a student why morphine induces sleep, explains that it is due to morphine's "virtus dormitiva" that it is sedating.
Virtus dormitiva, of course, means "sleep-inducing property". The best neuroscience currently can do--and it never does this one hundred percent--is tell us whether a given neuron or neurons will or will not fire. This has nothing to do with consciousness whatsoever, and so in a sense, the closer we get to a neurological explanation, the farther away we get from what we are trying to treat, which is in consciousness.
Aah, philosophy of mind, my sweet, sweet paramour! ;)
poster:Chairman_MAO
thread:494113
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050510/msgs/496632.html