Fernando Vidal
Brainhood: Historical roots and contemporary presence of the cerebral subject
26 April 2007, 16:00, EMBL Large Operon
Fernando Vidal, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Since personhood is the quality or condition of being an individual person, "brainhood" may name the quality or condition of being a brain. This property defines the cerebral subject that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. The notion of a cerebral subject designates an anthropological figure – the human being as brain – with a great diversity of social inscriptions, embodiments and crystallisations, both inside and outside the philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific fields.
The talk will explore some aspects of the historical emergence of brainhood and of its presence in contemporary culture.