Critique of Daniel Lord Smail’s book On Deep History and the Brain. While the neurosciences can help historians sharpen their analytical gaze at subjects and at the role of the body as a highly adaptive interface between nature, society, and individual subjects, Becker warns that this can also lead to a reductionist approach that considers everything in terms of chemistry and ignores the historical, social, and cultural context of the body. In particular, he sees the danger of falling into an evolutionary narrative that does not capture social and psychological complexity.
DOI: doi.org/10.5282/rcc/6173