Dan Durso

I am a PhD candidate who works on philosophical issues that intersect with neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence.  A central aspect of my work examines recent neuroscience research and imports these findings into various philosophical domains, in particular aesthetics.  Additionally, my work engages with the metaphysical issues that underlie many scientific theories and concepts (e.g. reductionism, autonomy, realization, and emergence). 

A significant area of my research includes exploring the philosophical questions that emerge out of a young branch of cognitive neuroscience, neuroaesthetics. Neuroaesthetics is barely two decades old, yet within the last few years, it has produced fascinating results regarding how and why we respond to various stimuli.  Initially, neuroaesthetics was dedicated to the study of the neural underpinnings of responses to aesthetic objects (mostly art).  Currently, neuroaesthetics embodies a more mature science that has moved away from the exclusive study of the brain responding to art objects and into a science of sensory experiences and hedonics.