Damasio’s Error: The Politics of Biological Determinism After Freud

Samuels, Robert

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71891-0_2

Robert Samuels²

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Abstract

The central argument of this chapter is that neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio rely on an underlying theory of evolution that is full of unrecognized political assumptions and effects. As a prime example of neuroliberalism, Damasio’s Descartes’ Error attempts to naturalize a theory of nature, which is itself in part a product of political ideology and social negotiation. Although he does point to non-biological aspects of the human mind, we shall see that his formulations of consciousness represent a pre-psychoanalytic understanding of subjectivity. Moreover, his focus on survival and adaptation offers a new form of social Darwinism that is determined by a neoliberal emphasis on competitive conformity.

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Notes

1.
Damasio, Antonio R. Descartes’ error. Random House, 2006.
2.
Ibid., xiii.
3.
Dover, Gabriel. “Anti-Dawkins.” Alas poor Darwin: Arguments against evolutionary psychology (2000): 55–78.
4.
Freud, Sigmund. “Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning .” The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XII (1911–1913): The Case of Schreber, Papers on Technique and Other Works. 1958. 213–226.
5.
Freud, Sigmund. Beyond the pleasure principle . Vol. 840. Penguin UK, 2003.
6.
We can interpret Freud’s insistence on finding a biological cause for everything he could not explain as a symptom of his unanalyzed transference to science. In other words, Freud turns to an idealized vision of biology in order to resolve contradictions within his own non-biological theory. However, it is still vital to stress how Freud turns to biology to reveal all of the ways evolution fails to account for human behavior and thinking.
7.
Damasio, 111.
8.
Dawkins, Richard. The selfish gene. Oxford university press, 2016.
9.
Sloterdijk, Peter. “Critique of cynical reason.” (1988).
10.
Damasio, 11.
11.
Ibid., 111.
12.
Ibid., xvi.
13.
Lacan, Jacques . “The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis , trans. Alan Sheridan.” New York: Norton 67 (1978): 162–179.
14.
Loose, Rik. The subject of addiction: Psychoanalysis and the administration of enjoyment. Karnac Books, 2002.
15.
Freud, Sigmund. “The economic problem of masochism .” The Psychoanalytic Review (1913–1957) 16 (1929): 209.
16.
Damasio, 124.
17.
Freud, Sigmund, and James Strachey. The ego and the id. No. 142. WW Norton & Company, 1962.
18.
Freud, Sigmund. “Predisposition to the Obsessional Neurosis.” The Psychoanalytic Review (1913–1957) 21 (1934): 347.
19.
Ibid., 124.
20.
Ibid., 125.
21.
Lasch, Christopher. The culture of narcissism: American life in an age of diminishing expectations. WW Norton & Company, 1991: 63.
22.
Ibid., 65–66.
23.
Ibid., 66.
24.
Ibid.
25.
Ibid., 68.
26.
Lewontin, Richard C., Steven Rose, and Leon J. Kamin. “Not in our genes: Biology, ideology, and human nature.” (1984).
27.
Gottlieb, Gilbert. “Probabilistic epigenesis.” Developmental Science 10.1 (2007): 1–11.
28.
Lacan, Jacques . “Remarque sur le rapport de Daniel Lagache.” Écrits , op. cit: 647–684.
29.
Klein, Naomi . The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Macmillan, 2007.
30.
Damasio, 125.
31.
Freud, Sigmund. “Psychopathology of everyday life.” (1938).
32.
Damasio, 126.
33.
Ibid., 191.
34.
Ibid., 229.
35.
Gould, Stephen Jay. “Darwinian fundamentalism.” New York Review of Books 44 (1997): 34–37.
36.
Damasio, 247.
37.
Descartes, 1.
38.
Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe. Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics. Verso, 2001.
39.
Descartes, 26.
40.
Žižek, Slavoj . Looking awry: An introduction to Jacques Lacan through popular culture. MIT press, 1992: 64.
41.
Descartes, 26.
42.
Ibid., 33.
43.
Ibid., 36.
44.
Lacan, Jacques . The four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis . Vol. 11. WW Norton & Company, 1998: 36.
45.
Damasio, 248.
46.
Descartes, 46.
47.
Lacan, Four, 35–37.
48.
Damasio, 3–7.
49.
Damasio, 15.
50.
Damasio, 165.
51.
Ibid., xvii.
52.
James, Oliver. They f*** you up: How to survive family life. A&C Black, 2007.
53.
Gould, Stephen Jay. “More things in heaven and earth.” Alas poor Darwin: Arguments against evolutionary psychology (2000): 101–126.
54.
Damasio, xviii.
55.
Lacan, Four, 36.
56.
Lacan, Jacques . “The subversion of the subject .” Ecrits , trans. A. Sheridan (1967): 232–325.
57.
Damasio, 83.
58.
Freud, Sigmund. The interpretation of dreams. Read Books Ltd., 2013.

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UCSB, Goleta, CA, USA
Robert Samuels

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Samuels, R. (2017). Damasio’s Error: The Politics of Biological Determinism After Freud. In: Psychoanalyzing the Politics of the New Brain Sciences. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71891-0_2

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71891-0_2
Published: 29 December 2017
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71890-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71891-0
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