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Niklas Altermark

Niklas Altermark

Associate professor

Niklas Altermark

Neuro-Problems : Knowing Politics Through the Brain

Author

  • Niklas Altermark
  • Linda Nyberg

Summary, in English

In recent years, neuroscientific knowledge has been applied far beyond its context of emergence to explain human behaviour in general and to address a host of specific societal problems. In this article, we discuss the emerging research field of ‘neuropolitics’ that seeks to bring neuroscientific methods and findings to political science. Neuropolitics is investigated as a particular way of approaching political problems as located in the brain. We argue that neuropolitics research gives expression to a rationality of government that allows researchers to put forward policy prescriptions based on neuroscientific knowledge. Neuropolitics thus run the risk of leading to what we call a ‘pathologisation of politics’, that turns political problems into biological deviations.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2018

Language

English

Pages

31-48

Publication/Series

Culture Unbound

Volume

10

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Linköping University Electronic Press

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • neuroscience
  • neuropolitics
  • political rationality

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2000-1525