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One very critical aspect of cell biology is the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton not only provides a strong foundation for the cell (Pegoraro et al., 2017), but it also allows for protein transport on its tracks that span long distances in cells (Löwe & Amos, 2009), specifically in neurons (Dent, 2017).

One very critical aspect of cell biology is the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton not only provides a strong foundation for the cell (Pegoraro et al., 2017), but it also allows for protein transport on its tracks that span long distances in cells (Löwe & Amos, 2009), specifically in neurons (Dent, 2017). Microtubules have a particular structure as polymers that are part of the cytoskeleton (Dent, 2017). Their components include alpha- and beta-tubulin dimers, and they have dynamic properties, such as polymerization and depolymerization (Dent, 2017). Concerning these dynamic properties and as will be discussed here, specific associated proteins can be useful in electrical signaling, neurodegeneration, and neurogenesis. In this review, I will review relevant findings on microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), compare these to a prominent drug called taxol, and describe the significance of having a combination of MAPs in the brain. I will suggest that microtubules and their proteins form a critical geometric infrastructure that provides the framework for neuronal structure and function that contributes to more advanced cognitive processes, including consciousness.
ContributorsWilliamson, Elizabeth Paula (Author) / Coleman, Paul (Thesis director) / Mastroeni, Diego (Committee member) / Wolf, George (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
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Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is an intrinsic state of the world. While early forms were advanced by Spinoza and Russell, only recently has panpsychism gained widespread academic consideration. In this paper, I will argue for panpsychism, based on a similarity of the nature of our consciousness with the

Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is an intrinsic state of the world. While early forms were advanced by Spinoza and Russell, only recently has panpsychism gained widespread academic consideration. In this paper, I will argue for panpsychism, based on a similarity of the nature of our consciousness with the nature of the parts of our consciousness. This argument will be motivated by an anti-strong emergentist viewpoint, while allowing for complex consciousness to arise from a form of weak emergence between fundamental parts. Ultimately, this argument demonstrates that an identity theorist would collapse to panpsychism or strong emergentism, the former being preferred. From this, I argue that panpsychists can gain some intuitive benefits of dualism and materialism, without inheriting their issues. This positions the panpsychist well to respond to issues like Jackson’s (1982) Mary-argument. I will then discuss possible objections to panpsychism, focusing primarily on the combination problem. I conclude that the co-consciousness strategy is the optimal solution to this problem and can account for the inverse issue of the decombination problem that cosmopsychism faces. Overall, panpsychism’s explanatory power and compatibility with other disciplines makes it a favorable theory within the philosophy of mind.

ContributorsKing, Liam (Author) / Watson, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Botham, Thad (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05