All Too Human Neuro-Fallacies

In this chapter, we examine the explanations and claims of a few renowned brain researchers from a psychosocial perspective. Upon closer inspection, some of their essential explanations for the neural understanding of what it means to be human will turn out to be one-sided or even wrong. Examples of this are assertions about alleged illusions of will and the probably most famous neurological patient, Phineas Gage. A brief excursion into the nineteenth century and its materialism dispute makes it clear that this phenomenon is not new, both in science and in the media.