Article ID: CBB202302286

Historiography, Affect, and the Neurosciences (2017)

unapi

Recent historiography has put to rest debates over whether to address the neurosciences. The question is how? In this article, I stage a dialogue between neurohistory and the history of the emotions. My primary goal is to survey these two clusters and clarify their conceptual commitments. Both center on the role of affect in embodied subjectivity; but their accounts widely diverge. Whereas neurohistorians tend to treat affects as automatic bodily processes, historians of the emotions generally emphasize that affects are meaningful and volitional activities. This divergence entails contrasting understandings of selfhood, embodiment, and historical change. More importantly, I argue, it reflects a broader realm of disputes within the neurosciences. The divisions among methodologies and commitments testify to the importance of historians’ selection of evidence as well as the critical perspectives they can bring to scientific debates. The neurosciences do not offer readymade theories. Secondarily, I take stock of the shared limitations of neurohistory and the history of the emotions. Both conceptualize the biological bases of affection as a universal ground for historical inquiry. By reexamining this transhistorical approach to neuroscientific evidence, I suggest that historiography might widen the horizon of interdisciplinary scholarship beyond the present options. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

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Authors & Contributors
Klocker, Natascha
Parnas, Josef
Kerr, Sophie-May
Luca Frigerio
Kambaskovic, Danijela
Jansson, Lennart
Concepts
Emotions; passions
Neurosciences
Psychology
Embodiment; corporeality
Self-perception
Psychiatry
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, late
20th century
17th century
21st century
20th century, early
Places
Milan (Italy)
United States
Italy
Germany
Australia
Great Britain
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