The innate and the acquired in contemporary neurosciences

Contemporary neurosciences are examined in the light of the works of Gerald Edelman. In the first part the theory of selection of neuronal groups and the conceptions of consciousness which follow from it are presented synthet ically. A first philosophical analysis has to do with the question of reduc tionism in connection with the various conceptions of intertheoretical redu ctionism. The contribution of the theory of the selection of neuronal group s in the context of the problem of what is inborn and what is acquired is t hen studied in connection with the philosophical analyses of the relationsh ips between structure and function. The great conceptual fruitfulness of th e theories of Edelman is then pointed out both in the scientific and in the philosophical fields.