Plastic Reason - An Anthropology of Brain Science in Embryogenetic Terms

Plastic Reason is a study of the efforts of a few Parisian neurobiologists to undermine this rigid conception of the central nervous system and to show that basic embryogenetic processes - most spectacularly the emergence of new cellular tissue in the form of new neurons, axons, dendrites, and synapses - continue in the mature brain. Furthermore, these researchers sought to demonstrate that the new tissues are still unspecific and hence literally plastic, and that this cellular plasticity is constitutive of the possibility of the human.

List of contents

Illustrations

The Ground of the Argument
Note on Technical Terms
Acknowledgments

On Growth and Form
1. ENTRY
Observation
2. RELATIONAL
Regional Rationalities
3. CONCEPTUAL
Histories of Truth
4. NOCTURNAL
Vital Concepts
5. EXPERIMENTAL
Plastic Anatomies of the Living
6. ETHICAL
Humility
7. LETTING GO
The Plastic

Coda: Plasticity after 2003
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Tobias Rees is Associate Professor of Anthropology with a dual appointment in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine at McGill University.

Summary

Throughout the twentieth century, neuronal researchers knew the adult human brain to be a thoroughly fixed and immutable cellular structure, devoid of any developmental potential. This is a study of the efforts of a few Parisian neurobiologists to overturn this rigid conception of the central nervous system.

Additional text

"One of the most engaging and quirky anthropological monographs I have read in recent years."

Product details

Authors	Tobias Rees, Rees Tobias
Publisher	University Of California Press
Languages	English
Product format	Paperback / Softback
Released	31.03.2016
EAN	9780520288133
ISBN	978-0-520-28813-3
No. of pages	352
Subjects	Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Miscellaneous; Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General

Product details

• Authors: Tobias Rees, Rees Tobias
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2016
• EAN: 9780520288133
• ISBN: 978-0-520-28813-3
• No. of pages: 352
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Miscellaneous; Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General