19세기 공감각(synesthesia)과 수의 공간적 인지(number-form)에 대한 생리학철학

초록

‘Number-form’ is a kind of synesthesia that refers to a capacity of representing a sequence of numbers as entities in space by mind’s eye. Francis Galton(1822-1911) who led the research of synesthesia in the 19th century explained number-form on the basis of his studies on few test subjects and according to two oppositionary theories: the physiological theory and the psychological theory. After his studies, many other researchers who did group researches comprehended number-form mainly by the psychological theory. Depending on Claude Bernard(1813-1878)’s classification of absolute determinism and phenomenal determinism, this paper claims that 19th century theories of synesthesia had not been able to fully develop as a physico-chemical reductionism, nevertheless they had overcome speculative psychology to establish a scientific psychology. Consequently, this analysis and evaluation of such controversy in the history of physiology is an essay to promote future philosophy of basic medicine focusing on the epistemological problems beyond the problems of research ethics and clinical ethics.

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