From July 31 to August 3 the Interdisciplinary Research Week “From the Brain to the Self” was held at the Pilar campus. The president of Austral University, Dr. Fernando Fragueiro, inaugurated the activities with a speech.

During the Week several activities took place, aimed to deepen our understanding of the structure and function of the brain and of the nervous system, their functions and pathologies, as well as the philosophical and anthropological implications thereof.

Two lectures are delivered for the general public: one by Dr. Angela Suburo (Universidad Austral) entitled “The mind, the brain and the I”, and another one by Dr. Alfredo Marcos Martínez (University of Valladolid, Spain) with the title “Person, self-knowledge and meaning of life”. In his lecture Dr. Marcos suggested that more importance should be given to a philosophy of life based on certain Aristotelian intuitions. In addition to the researchers involved in the project The Brain and the Personal Self, many staff members of the Hospital Universitario Austral attended the lectures.

The course on “Emotions and cognition”, delivered by Dr. Juan José Sanguineti was open to all scholars and academics, and was attended by numerous professors from different Schools. The course dealt with a wide range of topics, including affectivity as a vital dimension, its dynamism and the relation between affections and reason.

The Week’s central event was the workshop for researchers. Thirty-five academics from twenty universities from Latin America and Spain participated in the workshop. The excellent ambience during the Week contributed notably to an open dialogue, both during the sessions and in informal conversations. It was a unique opportunity for learning and obtaining inspiring ideas.

Several questions were discussed at the workshop: How do neurosciences, psychology and philosophy contribute to our knowledge of the human being? How compelling is the distinction between the first- and the third-person perspectives as an argument against naturalism? Can self-understanding be preserved despite cognitive dysfunctions? Is the ‘self’ an adequate bridge between the results of neuroscience and the notion of person? On the second day of the Workshop two panels discussed the questions: Can philosophy provide an interpretative framework for neuroscientific studies? Which neuroscientific findings enlighten in a novel way our understanding of the human person?