Psychoanalyzing the Politics of the New Brain Sciences

Description

This book argues that neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics often function as a political ideology masquerading as a new science. In looking at works by Antonio Damasio, Steven Pinker, Richard Thaler, Cas Sunstein, and John Tooby, Robert Samuels undertakes a close reading of the new brain sciences, and by turning to the works of Freud and Lacan, offers a counter-discourse to these new emerging sciences. He argues that an unintentional political manipulation of scientific thinking serves to repress the psychoanalytic conception of the unconscious and sexuality as it reinforces neoliberalism and promotes the drugging of discontent. This innovative book is intended for those interested in science, psychoanalysis, and politics and offers a new definition of neoliberal subjectivity. Front Matter ....Pages i-vii Introduction (Robert Samuels)....Pages 1-7 Damasio’s Error: The Politics of Biological Determinism After Freud (Robert Samuels)....Pages 9-33 The Backlash Politics of Evolutionary Psychology: Steven Pinker’s Blank Slate (Robert Samuels)....Pages 35-58 Behavioral Economics: Nudge and Technocratic Liberalism (Robert Samuels)....Pages 59-83 The Brain Sciences Against the Welfare State (Robert Samuels)....Pages 85-114 Drugging Discontent: Psychoanalysis, Drives, and the Governmental University Medical Pharmaceutical Complex (GUMP) (Robert Samuels)....Pages 115-136 Conclusion (Robert Samuels)....Pages 137-139 Back Matter ....Pages 141-143