PEDRO HENRIQUE SILVA ATERJE

The search for a demonstrable and/or verifiable epistemic and ontological basis for human cognitive faculties is a heritage that dates back at least two and a half thousand years of philosophical history, with roots that can be traced to Plato and Aristotle. However, the development of the neurosciences, especially over the past 150 years, has led to significant transformations in these long-standing theoretical paradigms, due to the new investigative tools currently available. The aim of this paper is, first, to examine different theories that have been developed over this period, in light of discoveries and evidence arising from experimental results, which suggest the possibility of an ontological basis for human metacognitive faculties rooted in the structure of the central nervous system, particularly in the brain. Secondly, the paper intends to assess the methodological and theoretical limitations that a radical physicalist theory may entail.