“Whole brain” politics and brain laterality research

Summary

The paper discusses a recent international conference in Munich (FRG) on brain-laterality research. An open letter on the goals of the conference is considered. In this letter, the “automatic” moral and intellectual decay of “left brain” modern society was predicted, and a clarion call for the reinsertion of “whole brain” values into our over-mechanized culture was sounded. Discussion of the conference itself focuses on the political and social risks involved in selling irrationalist ideologies — even well-meaning ones — in the name of science. The paper calls for a more responsible attitude among modern brain-laterality researchers who would participate in scientific conferences that blur the distinction between description and social prescription.