Biopolitics After Neuroscience

This book is a tour de force, offering a detailed analysis of the neuroscience of morality in relation to neoliberal economic thought. It is both a provocative critique of current neuroscience and a call for a more humane cultural conversation about what it means to be human. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the wider philosophical, theological or ethical implications of neuroscience. * Neil Messer, Professor of Theology, University of Winchester, UK *
A perceptive and illuminating work. Hidden within the technical theories of neuroscience, Bishop, Lysaught and Michel, uncover a moral language with disturbing implications for race, poverty, and many other areas of urgent political concern. It turns out much of what claims to be a “science” of the brain is, in fact, ideology. * Jason Blakely, Associate Professor of Political Philosophy, Pepperdine University, USA *
Hypothesizing originally that neuroscience could be adduced to complicate virtue ethics, the authors discovered instead the embeddedness of neoliberal drivers and norms in the field itself. Deeply researched, immensely thoughtful and beautifully written, this work is a major contribution to understanding how the sciences mirror rather than bracket social and political principles of an age. * Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, USA *
Neuroscience promises to unlock the secrets of the brain and release powerful forces for healing and well-being, albeit at the cost of erasing free will and moral responsibility. Biopolitics after Neuroscience powerfully traces the roots of this project in a social imaginary spawned by eighteenth-century political economy, linked with the rise of utilitarian moral theory, and bound up with policing the “undeserving” poor. The brain is imagined as a new invisible hand, the secrets of which can be unlocked through neuroscience and directed toward the formation of maximally efficient, productive economic citizens. Bishop, Lysaught and Michel’s bold analysis should give readers pause about jumping on this latest Big Science bandwagon. * Jennifer A. Herdt, Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Yale University, USA *
This is the sort of volume I have eagerly awaited. The authors skillfully describe how neoliberal values have shaped neuroscientific research. However, their argument transcends this specialty. After this book, no discipline—academic or otherwise—can afford to ignore how its practitioners may unknowingly serve their political and economic masters. * Bruce Rogers-Vaughn, Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt Divinity School, USA *
This book is a necessary read for anyone interested in theological ethics, bio-ethics, or the neurosciences. Bishop et al. weave a complex yet clear narrative of the underlying anthropologies which govern the contemporary political economy and its relation to the neurosciences. * Canadian-American Theological Review *