Wilson Elizabeth A. Wilson

Psychosomatic (eBook, PDF)

Feminism and the Neurological Body

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

How can scientific theories contribute to contemporary accounts of embodiment in the humanities and social sciences? In particular, how does neuroscientific research facilitate new approaches to theories of mind and body? Feminists have frequently criticized the neurosciences for biological reductionism, yet, Elizabeth A. Wilson argues, neurological theories-especially certain accounts of depression, sexuality, and emotion-are useful to feminist theories of the body. Rather than pointing toward the conventionalizing tendencies of the neurosciences, Wilson emphasizes their capacity for reinvention and transformation. Focusing on the details of neuronal connections, subcortical pathways, and reflex actions, she suggests that the central and peripheral nervous systems are powerfully allied with sexuality, the affects, emotional states, cognitive appetites, and other organs and bodies in ways not fully appreciated in the feminist literature. Whether reflecting on Simon LeVay's hypothesis about the brains of gay men, Peter Kramer's model of depression, or Charles Darwin's account of trembling and blushing, Wilson is able to show how the neurosciences can be used to reinvigorate feminist theories of the body.

---

Dieser Download kann aus rechtlichen Gründen nur mit Rechnungsadresse in A, B, BG, CY, CZ, D, DK, EW, E, FIN, F, GR, HR, H, IRL, I, LT, L, LR, M, NL, PL, P, R, S, SLO, SK ausgeliefert werden.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Duke University Press
• Seitenzahl: 136
• Erscheinungstermin: 16. Juni 2004
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780822386384
• Artikelnr.: 54818304

Autorenporträt

Elizabeth A. Wilson is a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney in Australia. She is the author of Neural Geographies: Feminism and the Microstructure of Cognition.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Somatic Compliance 1
1. Freud, Prozac, and Melancholic Neurology 15
2. The Brain in the Gut 31
3. Hypothalamic Preference: LeVay’s Study of Sexual Orientation 49
4. Trembling, Blushing: Darwin’s Nervous System 63
5. Emotional Lizards: Evolution and the Reptilian Brain 79
Notes 97
References 113
Index 123