Chapter
I. Prospects and Limitations of Neuroscience Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences
1 Neurophilosophy or Philosophy of Neuroscience? What Neuroscience and Philosophy Can and Cannot Do for Each Other
What Is the Philosophy of Neuroscience?
Neurophilosophy: How to Combine Neuroscientific Findings with Philosophical Theory
Neurophilosophy in Action: Personal Identity and Memory Research
What Neuroscience and Philosophy Can and Cannot Do for Each Other
2 Philosophical Puzzles Evade Empirical Evidence: Some Thoughts and Clarifications Regarding the Relation Between Brain Sci...
Philosophy-to-Science: Ethics, Logic, Terminology, and Clarity
Science-to-Philosophy: Can Scientific Data Settle Philosophical Debates?
Case One: Philosophy of Perception
Case Two: The Mind-Body Problem
3 “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Neuroscience?” Neuroscience’s Impact on Our Notions of Self and Free Will
The Promises and Perils of Neuroscience
The Selves of Neuroscience and Our Selves
4 Free Will—Between Philosophy and Neuroscience
Free Will and Mental Causation
Free Will and Neuroscience—Libet’s Approach
The Definition of Free Will in Libet’s Experiments
Problems With Libet’s Approach
Libet’s Legacy in Neuroscience
Free Will and Neuroscience—Tse’s Approach
Conclusions and Further Research
5 Histories of the Brain: Toward a Critical Interaction of the Humanities and Neurosciences
On the History of Neurosciences, the Old-Fashioned Way
On Neurohistory, or on Making History After the Neuro-turn
Toward a Critical History of the Neuro-turn, or “Plasticity and its Discontents”
II. The Neurosciences of Social Sciences and Ethics
6 The Theory of Brain-Sign: A New Model of Brain Operation
Background on Brain-Sign Theory
An Overview of Brain-Sign Theory
The Beneficial Results of Substituting Brain-Sign for Consciousness: (i) Physical Communication; (ii) Rejection of Psycholo...
The Three Categories of Brain-Sign: (i) Categories-of-the-World; (ii) Categories-of-Interaction; and (iii) Language
Some Notes on Neural Functioning
The Human Sciences after Brain-Sign Theory
7 On the Redundancies of “Social Agency”
There Is No Such Thing as Social Agency
Conceptual Characteristics and Thinking
Structural Changes and Agency
Empirical Evidence for Agency and Against Social Agency
How Does Agency Come About?
Volition and Consciousness Awareness
Structure and Top-Down Effects in Perception
Reactivation of Stored Representations and Top-Down Effects
8 Two Kinds of Reverse Inference in Cognitive Neuroscience
Location-Based Reverse Inference
LRI: General Problems and Limitations
Pattern-Based Reverse Inference
9 The Neuroscience of Ethics Beyond the Is-Ought Orthodoxy: The Example of the Dual Process Theory of Moral Judgment
Part One: Is-Ought Orthodoxy
Hume’s Is vs Ought Distinction
Moore’s Naturalistic Fallacy
Part Two: Neuroscience of Ethics Beyond the “Is-Ought” Problem
The Dual Process Model of Moral Cognition
The Limits of Neuroimaging
The Gap Between Psychology and Neuroscience
III. The Neurosciences in Society. Social, Cultural, and Ethical Implications of the Neuro-Turn
10 Effects of the Neuro-Turn: The Neural Network as a Paradigm for Human Self-Understanding
The Neuro-Turn in the Sciences
New Self-Concepts and Their Ontological Underpinnings
Representations of the Neural Net in Cinematic Narratives
11 Brain, Art, Salvation. On the Traditional Character of the Neuro-Hype
Introduction: Some Theses about the Character of Neurologization
Incorrect Use of Language and the Academic Criticism Thereof
Invading Society: Neuro-Art for Instance
Neuro-Philosophy and its Metaphysics
Neurologization and the European Search for Salvation
On Applied Ethics and the Background of the Given Interpretations
12 “A Mind Plague on Both Your Houses”: Imagining the Impact of the Neuro-Turn on the Neurosciences
Setting the Stage: Definitions and Scope
Case Study: 2012–13 Backlash
Case Study: An Open Letter to the Human Brain Project
What’s at Stake and for Whom? Translation, Reputation, and Marketability
13 Being a Good External Frontal Lobe: Parenting Teenage Brains
Teen Brain Plasticity and the Maturing Prefrontal Cortex Thesis
Acting as an External Frontal Lobe: Two Moral Repertoires of Parenting Teenage Brains
Parenting Turmoil: The Teenage Brain and Ideals of Good Parenting
Conclusion: Popular Neuroscience as Ethics Through Different Means
14 Toward Neuroscience Literacy?—Theoretical and Practical Considerations
Considerations on the Conceptualization of Neuroscience Literacy
Considering Teachers’ Literacy
Science Education in Biology Classrooms through “Everyday Myths”
15 “Strangers” in Neuroscientific Research
Controversy in the Neuroscientific Community—The Open Letter
The Ethics Advisory Board
Specific Challenges in the HBPj
Big Data—Big Neuroscience
Organization and Information Flow
Expectations Regarding the Aims of the Projects
Specific Challenges for the EAB
Determining the Expectations for the EAB
Independence and the Composition of Members
Addressing the Challenges
Primum Non Nocere—First Do No Harm
Weighing Benefits and Harm
Why Principles—And Why These Three?p
16 At the Push of a Button, Narrative Strategies and the Image of Deep Brain Stimulation
“At the Push of a Button”: Switching DBS on and Off for Observation
The Metaphorical Meanings of On and Off
A Good Story Needs a Plot Point
“And This Works, Like That, Instantly”
The Human Sciences after the Decade of the Brain
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