Abstract

In this chapter, I aim to examine the two central properties that are said to underlie the theory of mirror neurons, namely action execution and action observation. I shall call these the functional properties of mirror neurons. I will argue that attributing the functional properties of mirror cognition, as many neuroscientists do, to the so-called ‘mirror neurons’ suffers from the problem of misidentification. This is the problem of incorrectly identifying an object or a property of one sort with some other object or property. In light of this, I will propose that the most promising solution for the problem of misidentification is to ground the functional properties of mirror neurons squarely in consciousness and its bearer.