Article Text
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Robert Blank, Washington DC, Georgetown UP, 1999, 199 pages, £43.25 (hb), £15.75 (sb).
Robert Blank is a political scientist who writes as an informed layman in neuroscience for “anyone who has an interest in the broader social implications of research and applications in the brain”. (pagevii) His central theme is that “ … the brain represents an important new biomedical area that must be studied much like genetics, reproductive techniques, and organ transplantation. As such, brain policy and politics is a critical area of study for social scientists and ethicists”. (pages1-2)
As Blank rightly observes this is an under-explored policy issue of far-reaching significance. What is surprising though is the stance which he takes, derived from an essentially biological view of man. He states that “… evidence from neuroscience clearly supports the view that the mind is nothing but what the brain does”(page 20) and …