Professor José Manuel Giménez AmayaProfessor José Manuel Giménez Amaya

Professor of Science, Reason and Faith
Universidad de Navarra

Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

Biography

José Manuel Giménez Amaya (Madrid, June 18, 1958) is a medical doctor, neuroscientist and philosopher from Spain. He has been Professor of Anatomy and Embryology at the Autonomous University of Madrid (2002-2010) and Professor of Science, Reason and Faith at the University of Navarra since 2012. On May 14, 2011, he was ordained as catholic priest by the bishop Javier Echevarría Rodríguez at the Basilica Sant’Eugenio a Valle Giulia in Rome (Italy).

Biography

Academic career

He studied medicine (M.D.) at the Autonomous University of Madrid (1975-1981) where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 1983. He did his postdoctoral training with Professor Fernando Reinoso Suárez at the Autonomous University of Madrid (1984-1987) and with Professor Ann M. Graybiel at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1987-1989).

He also studied Philosophy at the University of Navarra (2007-2010) where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 2011.

Research

Neuroscience

His areas of interest in neurobiology have been the brain structures involved in movement and psychiatric disorders. He has also studied the cellular a chemical organization of the basal ganglia and other subcortical structures in the normal human brain and in the brain from patients with schizophrenia.

He has collaborated with other laboratories of Neuroscience both in the United States Professor Suzane N. Haber at the University of Rochester and James H. Meador-Woodroff at the University of Alabama and in Canada Professor André Parent at Laval University.

Philosophy

His work is based on three main topics: the mind-brain relationships, neuroethics and the study of the works of the well-known philosophers Alasdair MacIntyre and Rémi Brague.

His research in this field has been quite remarkable in trying to develop an interdisciplinary approach between Neuroscience and Philosophy alike. He is also one of the most outstanding scholars in the Spanish-speaking world on Alasdair MacIntyre.

Recognitions

  • Correspondent Member of the Spanish Royal National Academy of Pharmacy (2006).
  • Correspondent Member of the Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine (2008).
  • Director of the Group Science, Reason and Faith (CRYF) at the University of Navarra (2010-2016).
  • Vice Dean of the Ecclesiastical Philosophy School at the University of Navarra (2016-2017).
  • Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Navarra (1997-2001).
  • Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome (Italy).

Selected works

Neuroscience

  • Giménez-Amaya, J. M., Graybiel, A. M., Modular organization of projection neurons in the matrix compartment of the primate striatum, The Journal of Neuroscience, 11 (1991), pp. 779–791. DOI
  • Giménez Amaya, J. M., The association cortex and the basal ganglia: a neuroanatomical view upon their relationship based on hodological studies, Journal für Hirnforschung, 32 (1991), pp. 501–510. Dedicated to Professor Walle J. H. Nauta.
  • Hontanilla, B., de las Heras, S., Giménez-Amaya, J. M., A topographic re-evaluation of the nigrostriatal projections to the caudate nucleus in the cat with multiple retrograde tracers, Neuroscience, 72 (1996), pp. 485–503. DOI
  • Prensa, L., Giménez-Amaya, J. M. Parent A., Morphological features of neurons containing calcium-binding proteins in the human striatum, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 390 (1998), pp. 552–563. DOI
  • Bernácer, J., Prensa L.,  Giménez-Amaya, J. M, Cholinergic interneurons are differentially distributed in the human striatum, PLoS ONE, 2 (2007): e1174.  doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001174
  • Alelú-Paz, R., Giménez-Amaya, J. M., The mediodorsal thalamic nucleus revisited and schizophrenia, Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 33 (2008), pp. 489–498. DOI
  • Bernácer, J., Prensa L.,  Giménez-Amaya, J. M, Distribution of GABAergic interneurons and dopaminergic cells in the functional territories of the human striatum, PLoS ONE, 7 (2012): e30504. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030504

Philosophy

Mind-brain relationships

  • Giménez Amaya, J. M., “A better understanding of freedom. An interdisciplinary approach to neuroscience and philosophy”, in Moral Behavior and Free Will: A Neurobiological and Philosophical Approach, J.J. Sanguineti, A. Acerbi, J.A. Lombo (eds.), 2011, Morolo: IF Press, pp. 47–60.
  • Sánchez-Migallón, S., Giménez-Amaya, J. M., Phenomenological analysis of the emotional life and a note on its neurobiological correlation, Scientia et Fides, 2 (2014), pp. 47–66. DOI
  • Lombo, J. A., Giménez-Amaya, J. M., The unity and the stability of human behavior: An interdisciplinary approach to habits between philosophy and neuroscience, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8 (2014), p. 607. DOI
  • Lombo, José Ángel — Giménez Amaya, José Manuel, Atención, en Fernández Labastida, Francisco – Mercado, Juan Andrés (editores), Philosophica: Enciclopedia filosófica on line, URL: https://www.philosophica.info/voces/atencion/Atencion.html [(DOI): 10.17421/2035_8326_2022_JMGA_2-1]

Neuroethics

Moral philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre

  • Bello, H. J., Giménez Amaya, J. M., Valoración ética de la modernidad según Alasdair MacIntyre, Pamplona: EUNSA, 2018. ISBN: 978-84-313-3284-6. With an analytical index, both in Spanish and in English, of all the published works of Alasdair MacIntyre until 2018.
  • Bello Rodríguez, Hernando José — Giménez Amaya, José Manuel, Alasdair MacIntyre, en Fernández Labastida, Francisco – Mercado, Juan Andrés (editores), Philosophica: Enciclopedia filosófica on line, URL: https://www.philosophica.info/voces/macintyre/MacIntyre.html [(DOI): 10.17421/2035_8326_2021_HJB_1-1].

Rémi Brague

Honoraria Titles


Major Prizes


Religion, Philosophy & History Interests

Christianity-Catholicism

Science & Technology Interests

Anthropology, Neuroscience, Psychology

Publications


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