Abstract
This introduction outlines the main arguments of each of the chapters. One of the central points is to show how psychoanalysis offers a critical perspective on the new brain sciences of neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics. I argue that Freud’s basic insights into human subjectivity reveal how instincts are replaced by drives, why humans are not dominated by evolution, why people participate in their own self-destruction, how the mental can disrupt the physical, and why the evolutionary goal of biological survival is often subverted. Although it would be wrong to reject the importance of biology and evolution for human beings, it is equally wrong to believe that we are determined solely by biological forces derived from natural selection. Unfortunately, powerful interests in the world want to convince people that genes and neurotransmitters shape who we are, and so the only solution to many of our psychological and social problems is some form of prescribed medication.
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Samuels, R. (2017). Introduction. In: Psychoanalyzing the Politics of the New Brain Sciences. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71891-0_1
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