Mapeamento do sujeito cerebral na cultura contemporânea

Abstract

A pesquisa a que se refere este artigo se propõe a mapear o "sujeito cerebral" na sociedade contemporânea. Chamamos de "sujeito cerebral" a figura antropológica que incorpora a crença de que os seres humanos são essencialmente reduzíveis aos seus cérebros. Nosso foco está nos discursos, nas imagens e nas práticas que podem ser globalmente designadas de "neurocultura". Das políticas públicas às artes, das neurociências à teologia, os humanos são geralmente tratados como reduzíveis a seus cérebros. A nova disciplina da neuroética é eminentemente sintomática dessa situação; outros exemplos podem ser tirados da ficção científica escrita e em filmes; de práticas como a "neuróbica" ou criopreservação cerebral; da neurofilosofia e das neurociências; de debates a respeito da vida e da morte cerebral; de práticas de tratamento intensivo, transplante de órgãos, e aprimoramentos e próteses neurológicas; das áreas emergentes da neuroestética, neuroteologia, neuroeconomia, neuroeducação, neuropsicanálise e outras. Este artigo traça a diversidade de neuroculturas e as coloca num contexto maior, caracterizado pela emergência de "bioidentidades" somáticas que substituem noções psicológicas e internalistas de identidade individual. Tal objetivo foi alcançado não somente através do exame de discursos e representações, mas também de práticas sociais concretas, como aquelas que se formam no movimento politicamente poderoso da "neurodiversidade", ou em disciplinas "neuroascéticas" do self, vigorosamente comercializadas.

Doação de órgãos e tecidos: a centralidade do coração e a emergência do cérebro manifestadas em projeto artístico

“…The idea of "heart-pump" emerges in the justifications below in relation to the rhythm and acceleration imposed by the contemporary world, where the speed and simultaneousness of the events would require an ever-growing effort of the body. Thus, the heart emerges as a pump that determines and governs the rhythm of our life, even in a context in which the brain -as the big machine that conducts and organizes everything -has been acquiring more and more centrality (Ortega, Vidal, 2007;Ehrenberg, 2009).…”

“…By multiplying her meditation capacity, the participant mentions that she could more tolerant, Zen and spiritualized. This takes us to the other comprehension of brain, that is, the one that refers to it as the organ connected with spirituality and with the different mental capacities (the brain as the "place" of the mind), which is commonly found in many cultural contexts and which is, today, object of intense scientific investigations (Ortega, Vidal, 2007;Caponi, 2007, Ehrenberg, 2009. The fragment, like the entire text of the justification of the participant G.B., reproduces some beliefs about the brain and the mind.…”

“…Some premises that are not explained in these utilizations of neuroscience knowledge are: that we could know exactly the location of the memory in the brain (and delete it arbitrarily, like in the movies), "that mind is intrinsically the brain; and that the human being would be essentially constituted by the brain, that is, a new anthropological figure called 'cerebral subject'" (p.146). According to Ortega and Vidal (2007) and Ehrenberg (2009), the term 'cerebral subject' summarizes the reduction of the human being to the brain, which would be the only necessary organ to the formation of personal identity. In this way, the organ would respond to everything that had been formerly attributed to the person, to the individual.…”

“…Therefore, they would be cerebral self practices that aim at body improvement and optimization, at the maximization of its capacities (Ortega, 2008b). The trend of "cerebrality" is defined by Ortega and Vidal (2007) as "the property or quality of 'being', rather than only 'having', a brain" (p.257). According to Ortega (2008b), this trend allows that what used to be understood as pathology starts to be seen as a new identity ("neuroidentity").…”

Esclarecimento e indústria cultural: algumas reflexões acerca da neurocultura

“…In recent years the issue of neuroculture has stimulated academic debates also in Brazil. In fact, Ortega (2009a;2009b), Ortega and Vidal (2007), Ortega and Bezerra Jr. (2006) and Vidal (2011) have presented studies on neuroscience, neuroculture and brain subjects from a historical-sociological perspective. It deals with the mapping of the brain subjects both in contemporary times and in the development of neuroascesis, whose roots can be found in the philosophy of the 17th century's personal identity.…”