Does the human brain have unique genetically determined networks coding logical and ethical principles and aesthetics?
Agnati LF; Agnati A; Mora F; Fuxe K Section of Physiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 287, 141100 Modena, Italy. luigiagnati@tin.it Starting from the assumption that philosophers carry out “experiments” not on concrete objects, but on concepts and relationships between concepts, it could be postulated that the philosopher’s way to proceed is not basically different from that followed by scientists. From this similarity of approaches it can be considered that some philosophical problems and theories have a high impact on how to address scientific investigations. One of these issues is certainly the philosophical debate over innate ideas, which is central to the conflict between rationalist and empiricist epistemologies. We started our reflections on the possible presence of innate ideas in the human brain from the observation that there exists strong experimental support for the view that not only complex behaviours (e.g., sexual
