Why NeuroPhile?
Fundamental research has led to undeniable progress in the management of patients suffering from psychiatric pathologies, but the problem remains of translating certain results obtained in fundamental neuroscience into the clinic. At the nexus of affective neuroscience and the philosophy of neuroscience, this research project aims to answer the following question: how can neuroscience help to advance the categorisation and understanding of emotional states, in particular when they become pathological, and how can animal models contribute to it? Drawing on the recent neuroscientific literature, the philosophical method of conceptual analysis, and a dialogue with psychiatrists, we propose to develop a rigorous framework for the analysis of animal models of psychiatric pathologies in order to assess their relevance.
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To do this, we will first carry out a critical analysis of particular mouse models (the mouse being the main model organism used today in laboratories). We will focus in particular on animal models of addiction that involve optogenetics. Then, we will put into perspective these experimental data, both from the literature and from our own experiments, with human data, but also with the very vast literature on the philosophy of emotions / psychiatry.
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This work aims to develop conceptual tools and critical analyzes which, we hope, will help improve the care of patients with emotional disorders.
Key issues
Bringing disciplines and researchers into dialogue
Understanding the emotions
Development of tools for researchers and doctors
The primary goal of this project is to create spaces for dialogue between scientists, doctors, and philosophers through the organization of seminars, the writing of articles, etc.
This dialogue between researchers is also a dialogue between theories: this project combines neuroscientific knowledge, theories of emotions in philosophy, and psychiatric theories, with the aim of better understanding emotions.
In experimental neuroscience , the question of animal models arises: the application of the results to humans remains complex. Developing tools allowing researchers to assess the relevance of an animal model is one of our objectives .