Abstract
Terminological inconsistency in neuroscience obscures ontological relations between neural circuits and cognition. Meanwhile, the dominant view among philosophers is that human cognition is neurally realized. It remains an open question whether the extensive philosophical literature on (multiple) realization sheds light on the ontological unclarity in neuroscience. Here I identify the kinds of experiments in neuroscience that are relevant to determining whether and how cognition is neurally realized. I then argue on empirical grounds that realization is not a relation between individual circuits and cognitive phenomena.
