Concepts of Localization: Balkanization in the Brain

Author: Mundale J.

Source: Brain and Mind, Volume 3, Number 3, December 2002 , pp. 313-330(18)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

A spate of recent anti-localizationist publications have re-ignited the old debate about the localization of function. Many of the recent attacks on localization, however, are directed at what I will argue to be a narrow and outmoded view of localization, and thus have little conceptual or empirical impact. What I hope to present here is an analysis of functional localization that more adequately reflects the sophistication and complexity of its use in neuroscientific research, both historically and recently. Proceeding first by way of contrast, I examine the anti-localizationist positions of holism and equipotentiationism. Then, I present a four-fold analysis of localization according to physical scope, physical kind, functional scope, and functional kind. Next, I turn to a discussion of the heuristic value of localization in deciphering structure-function relationships. Finally, I hope to show that the overall view of functional localization that emerges from these considerations constitutes a much more elusive target than its critics assume. It serves to mitigate, and in some instances even defeat, some forms of anti-localizationist criticisms.

Keywords: anti-localization; complex systems; equipotentiationism; function; functional localization; heuristic; holism; localization; phrenology

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy, University of Central Florida, CHN 411, Orlando, FL 32816-1352, USA (E-mail: jmundale@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu)

Publication date: 2002-12-01