Essays on neuroscience and political theory : thinking the body politic / edited by Frank Vander Valk.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Vander Valk, Frank.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biopolitics.

Neurosciences--Political aspects.

Neurosciences.

Political science.

Physical Description:

ix, 294 pages ; 18 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2012.

Summary:

The past 20 years have seen increasingly bold claims emanating from the field of neuroscience. Advances in medical imaging, brain modeling, and interdisciplinary cognitive science have forced us to reconsider the nature of social, cultural, and political activities. This collection of essays is the first to explore the relationship between neuroscience and political theory, with a view to examining what connections can be made and which claims represent a bridge too far.

The book is divided into three parts:

Part I places neuroscience as a social and political practice into historical context

Part II weaves together the insights from contemporary neuroscience with the wisdom of major figures in the history of political thought

Part III considers how neuroscience can inform contemporary debates about a range of issues in political theory.

This work brings together scholars who are skeptical about the possibility of integrating neuroscience and political theory with proponents of a neuroscience-informed approach to thinking about political and social life. The result is a timely and wide-ranging collection of essays about the role that our brain might play in the life of the body politic. It should be essential reading for all those with an interest in the cutting edge of political theory. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Part one. History and concepts: on the growing intellectual authority of neuroscience for political and moral theory / Maurizio Meloni; Neuroscience as applied hermeneutics: towards a critical neuroscience of political theory / Jan Slaby, Philipp Haueis, and Suparna Choudhury; Descartes on moral judgment and the power of the passions / Patricia Easton; unpacking emotional baggage in political inquiry / John G. Gunnell

Part two. Neuroscience and political thinkers: brain sculpting as moral practice: a neuro-Aristotelian approach / Leslie Paul Thiele; Hobbes, prudence, and neuroscience / James Martel; think big: toward a grand neuropolitics, or, why I am not an immanent naturalist or vital materialist / Adrian Johnston; The neuropolitical habitus of resonant receptive democracy / Romand Coles

Part three. Issues in neuroscience and political theory: does deliberation make you angry? neuroscience and theories of deliberative democracy / Marlene Sokolon; Bounded mirroring: joint action and group membership in political theory and cognitive neuroscience / Machiel Keestra; The extension of political subjectivity / Frank Vander Valk; the challenge of gender research in neuroscience / Emily Ngubia Kuria.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415782012

0415782015

9780415782029

0415782023

9780203124215

0203124219

OCLC:

690084889