With the rise of cognitive science and the revolution in neuroscience, it is now commonplace to assume that the study of a human person--a thinking, feeling, acting subject--is ultimately the study of the human brain. In both Europe and the United States, massive state-funded research is focused on mapping the brain in all its remarkable complexity. The metaphors employed are largely technological: A wiring diagram of synaptic connectivity will lead to a better understanding of human behavior and perhaps insights into the breakdown of human personhood with diseases of the brain such as...

With the rise of cognitive science and the revolution in neuroscience, it is now commonplace to assume that the study of a human person-a thinking, feeling, acting subject-is ultimately the study of the human brain. In both Europe and the United States, massive state-funded research is focused on mapping the brain in all its remarkable complexity. The metaphors employed are largely technological: A wiring diagram of synaptic connectivity will lead to a better understanding of human behavior and perhaps insights into the breakdown of human personhood with diseases of the brain such as...