Brainhood, anthropological figure of modernity

TLDR

Brainhood denotes the quality of being a brain, an ontological status that defines the cerebral subject and has accrued social inscriptions in industrialized societies since the mid‑20th century. The article investigates the historical development of brainhood. The authors argue that the brain is the locus of the modern self, positioning the cerebral subject as the anthropological figure of modernity that prizes individual autonomy. They conclude that the ideology of brainhood propelled neuroscientific inquiry and that neurocultural discourses and practices both embody and sustain this ideology.

Abstract

If personhood is the quality or condition of being an individual person, brainhood could name the quality or condition of being a brain. This ontological quality would define the `cerebral subject' that has, at least in industrialized and highly medicalized societies, gained numerous social inscriptions since the mid-20th century. This article explores the historical development of brainhood. It suggests that the brain is necessarily the location of the `modern self', and that, consequently, the cerebral subject is the anthropological figure inherent to modernity (at least insofar as modernity gives supreme value to the individual as autonomous agent of choice and initiative). It further argues that the ideology of brainhood impelled neuroscientific investigation much more than it resulted from it, and sketches how an expanding constellation of neurocultural discourses and practices embodies and sustains that ideology.