Alien Epistemologies: Neurodiversity, Synthetic Minds, and the Expansion of Neurophilosophy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2026.e107964Keywords:
Neurodiversity, Alien Epistemology, Neurophilosophy, Synthetic Cognition, Artificial Intelligence, Plural Ontology of MindAbstract
This paper proposes that neurodiversity, rather than being framed as deviation or pathology, can be reconceived as a source of alternative epistemic frameworks—a kind of internal cognitive otherness. Simultaneously, the rise of neuro-inspired AI and synthetic cognition offers external forms of epistemic alienness. Together, these phenomena challenge Patricia Churchland’s neurophilosophy to expand beyond its classical foundations in biological neural realism. We argue that understanding cognition today demands moving beyond a univocal, neurotypical conception of "the brain", incorporating both natural and artificial neurodivergences.
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