Neuroreductionism and the problem of the subject in cognitive research: a commentary on the translation of W. Wundt

Abstract

The Wilhelm Wundt’s principal attitude on reductionism described in the “On mental causality and the prin-ciple of psychophysical parallelism” (1894) appears to be relevant within current debates on theoretical prin-ciples of psychological science. Wundt’s arguments updatedand modified in accordance with the present seem to be applicable in a few ways. First, his arguments are relevant in discussion with the neuroreductionism that substitutes psychological explanations with neuronal. Secondly, Wundt’s position is also relevant when con-sidering the liberal or humanitarian psychology, which opposes the psychological subject to the psyche. Both of the alternatives to traditional cognitive theoretical explanations turned out to be vulnerable to criticism, formulated more than 120 years ago.