Materials of the Mind

Materials of the Mind
Author: James Poskett
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2022-02-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0226820645

Phrenology was the most popular mental science of the Victorian age. From American senators to Indian social reformers, this new mental science found supporters stretching around the globe. Materials of the Mind tells the story of how phrenology changed the world--and how the world changed phrenology. This is a story of skulls from the Arctic, plaster casts from Haiti, books from Bengal, and letters from the Pacific. Drawing on far-flung museum and archival collections, and addressing sources in six different languages, Materials of the Mind is the first substantial account of science in the nineteenth century as part of global history. It shows how the circulation of material culture underpinned the emergence of a new materialist philosophy of the mind, while also demonstrating how a global approach to history could help us reassess issues such as race, technology, and politics today.

An Organ of Murder

An Organ of Murder
Author: Courtney E. Thompson
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2021-02-12
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1978813082

Finalist for the 2022 Cheiron Book Prize​ An Organ of Murder explores the origins of both popular and elite theories of criminality in the nineteenth-century United States, focusing in particular on the influence of phrenology. In the United States, phrenology shaped the production of medico-legal knowledge around crime, the treatment of the criminal within prisons and in public discourse, and sociocultural expectations about the causes of crime. The criminal was phrenology’s ideal research and demonstration subject, and the courtroom and the prison were essential spaces for the staging of scientific expertise. In particular, phrenology constructed ways of looking as well as a language for identifying, understanding, and analyzing criminals and their actions. This work traces the long-lasting influence of phrenological visual culture and language in American culture, law, and medicine, as well as the practical uses of phrenology in courts, prisons, and daily life.

Vaught's Practical Character Reader

Vaught's Practical Character Reader
Author: Louis Allen Vaught
Publisher:
Total Pages: 266
Release: 1902
Genre: Phrenology
ISBN:

"The purpose of this book is to acquaint all with the elements of human nature and enable them to read these elements in all men, women and children in all countries"--Preface.

After Phrenology

After Phrenology
Author: Michael L. Anderson
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2014-12-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0262028107

A proposal for a fully post-phrenological neuroscience that details the evolutionary roots of functional diversity in brain regions and networks. The computer analogy of the mind has been as widely adopted in contemporary cognitive neuroscience as was the analogy of the brain as a collection of organs in phrenology. Just as the phrenologist would insist that each organ must have its particular function, so contemporary cognitive neuroscience is committed to the notion that each brain region must have its fundamental computation. In After Phrenology, Michael Anderson argues that to achieve a fully post-phrenological science of the brain, we need to reassess this commitment and devise an alternate, neuroscientifically grounded taxonomy of mental function. Anderson contends that the cognitive roles played by each region of the brain are highly various, reflecting different neural partnerships established under different circumstances. He proposes quantifying the functional properties of neural assemblies in terms of their dispositional tendencies rather than their computational or information-processing operations. Exploring larger-scale issues, and drawing on evidence from embodied cognition, Anderson develops a picture of thinking rooted in the exploitation and extension of our early-evolving capacity for iterated interaction with the world. He argues that the multidimensional approach to the brain he describes offers a much better fit for these findings, and a more promising road toward a unified science of minded organisms.

Edgar Allan Poe in Context

Edgar Allan Poe in Context
Author: Kevin J. Hayes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2013
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1107009979

Spend the holidays with the Master of the Macabre

The Skeptic's Dictionary

The Skeptic's Dictionary
Author: Robert Carroll
Publisher: Wiley
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2004-04-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0471480886

A wealth of evidence for doubters and disbelievers "Whether it's the latest shark cartilage scam, or some new 'repressed memory' idiocy that besets you, I suggest you carry a copy of this dictionary at all times, or at least have it within reach as first aid for psychic attacks. We need all the help we can get." -James Randi, President, James Randi Educational Foundation, randi.org "From alternative medicine, aliens, and psychics to the farthest shores of science and beyond, Robert Carroll presents a fascinating look at some of humanity's most strange and wonderful ideas. Refreshing and witty, both believers and unbelievers will find this compendium complete and captivating. Buy this book and feed your head!" -Clifford Pickover, author of The Stars of Heaven and Dreaming the Future "A refreshing compendium of clear thinking, a welcome and potent antidote to the reams of books on the supernatural and pseudoscientific." -John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracy and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper "This book covers an amazing range of topics and can protect many people from being scammed." -Stephen Barrett, M.D., quackwatch.org Featuring close to 400 definitions, arguments, and essays on topics ranging from acupuncture to zombies, The Skeptic's Dictionary is a lively, commonsense trove of detailed information on all things supernatural, occult, paranormal, and pseudoscientific. It covers such categories as alternative medicine; cryptozoology; extraterrestrials and UFOs; frauds and hoaxes; junk science; logic and perception; New Age energy; and the psychic. For the open-minded seeker, the soft or hardened skeptic, and the believing doubter, this book offers a remarkable range of information that puts to the test the best arguments of true believers.

Blinded by Science

Blinded by Science
Author: Wastell, David
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2017-03-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1447322347

There's no hotter area of science, at least as far as the general media and laypeople are concerned, than neuroscience--every day we hear of dramatic, surprising discoveries that seem to have the potential to utterly change our understanding of how the mind works. This book offers the first thorough review of such claims and the new biological science behind them. It examines the actual and potential applications of neuroscience within social policy and the impact of neuroscientific discoveries on long-standing moral debates and professional practices throughout social work, mental health practice, and criminal justice.

The New Phrenology

The New Phrenology
Author: William R. Uttal
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003-01-24
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0262710102

William Uttal is concerned that in an effort to prove itself a hard science, psychology may have thrown away one of its most important methodological tools—a critical analysis of the fundamental assumptions that underlie day-to-day empirical research. In this book Uttal addresses the question of localization: whether psychological processes can be defined and isolated in a way that permits them to be associated with particular brain regions. New, noninvasive imaging technologies allow us to observe the brain while it is actively engaged in mental activities. Uttal cautions, however, that the excitement of these new research tools can lead to a neuroreductionist wild goose chase. With more and more cognitive neuroscientific data forthcoming, it becomes critical to question their limitations as well as their potential. Uttal reviews the history of localization theory, presents the difficulties of defining cognitive processes, and examines the conceptual and technical difficulties that should make us cautious about falling victim to what may be a "neo-phrenological" fad.