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NEUROREDUCTIONISM ABOUT SEX AND LOVE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2014

Julian Savulescu  and
Brian D. Earp
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Abstract

‘Neuroreductionism’ is the tendency to reduce complex mental phenomena to brain states, confusing correlation for physical causation. In this paper, we illustrate the dangers of this popular neuro-fallacy, by looking at an example drawn from the media: a story about ‘hypoactive sexual desire disorder’ in women. We discuss the role of folk dualism in perpetuating such a confusion, and draw some conclusions about the role of ‘brain scans’ in our understanding of romantic love.

Type
Research Article
Information
Think , Volume 13 , Issue 38 , Autumn 2014 , pp. 7 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2014 

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References

Notes

1 It's also worth noting, as Neil Levy pointed out to us (personal correspondence) that ‘many non-reductive physicalists, while certainly agreeing with this claim, also assert a stronger claim: something like “though mental states are completely caused by physical states they are not identical to physical states.” So it's not just pragmatics – what kind of explanation allows for better understanding of what matters to us – but metaphysics that is at issue’ for these kinds of physicalist thinkers.

2 See story at http://bbc.in/a4CHXf.

3 Now, Dr. Diamond's evidence might show that the women are not ‘faking’ their low libido, which could be one sense in which you could argue that they had a ‘real disorder’. But it is silent on etiology – the question of cause – and it depends very much on one's definition of ‘disorder’. For example, it might be a real disorder that is also a ‘societal construct’. That is, some self-conceptions are shaped by notions that are available in a given culture (but not others), and these conceptions can influence one's functioning in ways that are detrimental to their well-being in that context. The Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders from the American Psychiatric Association, for example, recognizes a number of ‘culture-bound’ disorders.

4 See story at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2943-brain-tumour-causes-uncontrollable-paedophilia.html#.U3EBgF5H1fM.

5 Earp, B. D., Sandberg, A., & Savulescu, J. ‘Natural selection, childrearing, and the ethics of marriage (and divorce): Building a case for the neuroenhancement of human relationships’, Philosophy & Technology, vol. 25, no. 4, (2012), 561–587CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

6 Wudarczyk, O. A., Earp, B. D., Guastella, A., and Savulescu, J. ‘Could intranasal oxytocin be used to enhance relationships? Research imperatives, clinical policy, and ethical considerations’, Current Opinion in Psychiatry, (2013) vol. 26, no. 5, 474–484CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

7 Earp, B. D., Sandberg, A., & Savulescu, J. (forthcoming). The medicalization of love. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare EthicsGoogle ScholarPubMed.

8 Some of the material in this paper has been adapted from a blog post by the first author for the Practical Ethics blog at the University of Oxford. See http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2010/10/is-low-libido-a-brain-disorder/. We thank Neil Levy for providing feedback during revisions.