Voodoo science and the missing controversy: Neuroscience as an integration project

• In Event: 1452 - Genetics, Identity, and Other Controversies

Abstract

In the past two decades, neuroscience has been one of the most successful disciplines in academia both in terms of funding received and the number of scientific breakthroughs reported. It has become what physics was in the first – and genetics and molecular biology in the second – half of the 20th century: the key discipline of the 21st century. Unlike other key disciplines in today’s society, most notably human genetics and climate research neuroscience seems to be characterized by very limited public controversies. This is particularly remarkable because there were several crises in the past 30 years that had and have the potential for significant controversy in the field of neuroscience. Using the debate about the so-called voodoo correlations as a case in point I argue that neuroscientists actively try to avoid controversy in order to present themselves as a successful discipline. The text draws on 10 years of rich ethnography of scientific, institutional, and public arenas, as well as expert-interviews with neuroscientists and science journalists, and extensive analyses of documents and literature.

Author

• Torsten H Voigt, RWTH Aachen University