NeuroCulture Watch

Brains In Love: The Mereological Fallacy has an interesting article titled "I am my brain". The full article deserves a response (which will come), however, The Neuro Times draws readers attention to some new terminology that appears in the article.

“neuro-realism”

Neuro-realism reflects the uncritical way in which a fMRI investigation can be taken as validation or invalidation of our ordinary view of the world. Neuro-realism is, therefore, grounded in the belief that fMRI enables us to capture a ‘visual proof’ of brain activity, despite the enormous complexities of data acquisition and image processing.

“neuro-essentialism”

The concept of ‘neuro-essentialism’ reflects how fMRI research can be depicted as equating subjectivity and personal identity to the brain. In this sense, the brain is used implicitly as a shortcut for more global concepts such as the person, the individual or the self.