From the Benchside to the Bench: The Making of the "Cerebral Subject" in the Age of the Brain (original) (raw)

Notions such as "cerebral subject" and "neurochemical self" have inspired recent research in the social studies of the neurosciences by providing useful interpretive tools. The belief according to which we are essentially defined by cerebral anatomy and neurochemical states, or that the brain is the organ of personhood, are not rooted on research alone. They involve the interests of policy-makers and of the economic actors in the public health marketplace, public statements by high-profile neuroscientists, media reports of selected neuroscientific results, speculations about the present and future applications of those results, the proliferation of neuroimaging studies on topics of potential moral and ethical import. In short, the anthropological figures we are interested in are part of an expanding "neurocultural" universe. This "universe" is both the driving force and the consequence of the premise that the neurosciences constitute the most important scientific frontier of the twenty-first century. In a context where every field of knowledge seems to acquire its own “neuro” version, from neuroeducation and neurolaw to neuroesthetics, neurotheology, neuroanthropology and neuromarketing, the cerebral subject seems to represent a view of the human dominant in both the individual and the collective spheres. I would like to present these ideas and show how relevant these may be to researchers in neuroscience.

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