Neuroculture

On the implications of brain science
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-19-969547-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 742 g

Why do we have emotions? What are the bases of social behaviour? What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? How, and why, do we appreciate art? How do we make decisions? Are there biological foundations to ethical behaviour? Why do people follow religions, or believe in life after death?

These wide-ranging, but important questions are just some of those considered in this exploration of the field of neuroscience, and how it can crucially inform our knowledge across a range of seemingly unrelated disciplines.
'Neuroculture' considers the implications of our modern understanding of how the brain works, how it was shaped by evolution, and how it can help us understand many mental issues central to everyday life.

The book starts with a look at emotions and how they are important in our behaviour. It then considers social behaviour, looking at the adaptive differences between men and women. The next chapter considers emotion and rationality, and the mechanisms of decision making. In the following chapter, the author looks at philosophical issues, considering the relationship between the mind and brain, and considering whether the hardware/software distinction in a computer might tell us something about
mind-brain interactions. The following chapter considers neuroaesthetics - the biological foundations of our appreciation of art - including visual art, literature, and music. Is art a useless ornament? Is music, to quote Steven Pinker, really just 'auditory cheescake'?
After this, the author looks at the field of neuroeconomics - how neuroscience is informing us about how we make economic choices. The wide-ranging chapters that follow consider neuroethics - the biological foundations of ethical behaviour, neuropsychiatry - the connection between neural functioning and psychiatric disorders, neuroreligion - the possible biological foundations of religious belief, and neuropolitics - how our knowlege of the emotion and rational reasoning systems might help us
develop strategies to solve political problems.

Written to appeal to students and researchers across the biological sciences and humanities, Neuroculture will be fascinating reading for those in neuroscience, psychology, biology, medicine, economics, animal behaviour, psychiatry, philosophy, the arts - indeed anyone interested in why we behave as we do.

Zielgruppe

Students and researchers across the biological and brain sciences, philosophers of mind, those with an interest in economics and decision making

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rolls, Edmund T.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Kognitionspsychologie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Verhaltensökonomik
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Neurobiologie, Verhaltensbiologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Neurowissenschaften, Kognitionswissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophie des Geistes, Neurophilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1: Introduction
2: Neuroscience
3: Neuroaffect
4: Neuroscoiality
5: Neuroreason
6: Neurophilosophy
7: Neuroaesthetics
8: Neuroeconomics
9: Neuroethics
10: Neuropsychiatry
11: Neuroreligion
12: Neuropolitics
13: Conclusions
Appendix

Über Autor(innen)

Edmund T. Rolls is a neuroscientist at The Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, http://www.oxcns.org, and was Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He read preclinical medicine at the University of Cambridge, and now performs research linking computational neuroscience approaches to neurophysiological, human functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies in
order to provide a fundamental basis for understanding human brain function and its disorders.