[lbo-talk] NPR: A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secret

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Tue Jun 29 14:19:58 PDT 2010


Anything to do with correlates between brain states and behavior is strictly orthogonal to nature/nurture questions, although of course plasticity matters.

Of course, but there's still an ideological predisposition towards highlighting research that seems to provide an optimistic prognosis for an individuals political program. Even the degree to which one stresses plasticity has political implications, and thus quite often also political motivations. This is all very old hat, but it remains as true as it was in the days of Spencer and Kropotkin.

Does anyone suppose Pinker would be so outspoken a proponent of evolutionary psychology if he was a supporter of Hugo Chavez? And vice versa, would otherwise atheistic or secular minded people on this list be so antagonistic to what they might characterize as reductionist neuroscience if it weren't for the fact that their ideology calls for remaking society in an entirely novel fashion?



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