Into the wild blue yonder: On the emergence of the ethnoneurologies—the social science-based neurologies and the philosophy-based neurologies

Abstract

The development of cognitive science and neuroscience has stimulated the emergence of social science-based and philosophy-based neurosciences. A classification of the neurosciences is presented. The new neurosciences are viewed as ethnoneurologies, having as their common object the study of brain—in neurophysiological, neuroelectrical, neurochemical, and other functioning as related to mental level of experience and to structures, arrangements, and processes in the social world. This approach focuses not on how people perceive the brain, but rather on the uses they make of brain. Thus, the ethnoneurologies refer to a closely related family of interdisciplinary, neurocognitive fields of inquiry. The behavioral science based neurosciences—neurocommunications, neuroethology, neurolinguistics, and neuropsychology—contain within themselves topics, problems, and levels of analysis that are ethnoneurological, although not defined as ethnoneurologies. The social science based ethnoneurologies are neurosociology, neuroanthropology, neuropolitics, and neuroeconomics. The philosophy/humanities based ethnoneurologies include neurophilosophy, neuroaesthetics, neuroepistemology, neurophenomenology, and neuro-ontology. An ethnoneurological perspective provides a strategy for resolving the culture-and-cognition paradox, according to which (i) cultural differences are viewed as variations in the expression of universal human mentation, and (ii) such cultural differences reflect qualitatively different cognitive structures.