Neuroscience and Cognitive Science: a Complex Relationship

Since the nineties, the field of neuroscience investigations has been expanding and references to how the brain works are nowadays omnipresent. Following the development of cerebral imaging, a wealth of studies have attempted to evidence the neural basis of cognitive function and social behaviour. The idea that knowledge on how the brain works is essential to understanding human nature is now widespread, and is used as a basis for a naturalistic philosophical discourse, favouring the proliferation of neuro-disciplines. This article aims to discuss the prestige surrounding cerebral imaging, as well as its limitations, and to examine the historical foundations and the complex relationships between neuroscience and cognitive science in order to get a better understanding of the different research orientations, from neuro-essentialism to functionalistic and computational-representational approaches. The structuring of cognitive science has resulted in huge changes in the scientific community. It has modified the nature of relations between disciplines, and has profoundly changed the production of knowledge (informational turn). This contribution, that serves a historical and pedagogical purpose, examines these changes and the invention of the “average brain” by the new neurosciences that impose their norms of standardization, automation and quantification.