IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/25903.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Brains that make revolutions: the neural theory in the French Revolutions (1789-99, 1848-51, 1870-71), Iran (1977-81) and Bolshevik (1917-1924)

Author

Listed:
  • Estrada, Fernando

Abstract

This paper work assesses the key aspects of a framework for research on revolutions. Our approach includes a heuristic based on an idea suggested by Marx in the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte: “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living”. From this maxim of Marx advance on conventional interpretations by postulating that the language and metaphors are a challenge in several respects: (1) The brain is a physical basis for understanding key political revolutions, (2) advances in neuroscience and language (Lakoff/Johnson/Narayanan) have allowed the reconstruction of conceptual frameworks in various fields, including philosophy, mathematics and politics (3) The language expressed in songs, text, flags, emblems, illustrations, slogans, speeches and rumors is key to represent and demonstrate loyalty to the idea of revolution and, more crucially, to “make” the revolution, (4) Metaphors are a powerful rational action in revolutionary processes. One interpretation of these can contribute to decipher, for example, how the brain are activated in neural systems that link past and present, how to operate the symbolic frameworks of language to influence political opinion, how metaphors interact with processes artificial simulation or how metaphors evolve in a revolution from simple metaphors.

Suggested Citation

  • Estrada, Fernando, 2010. "Brains that make revolutions: the neural theory in the French Revolutions (1789-99, 1848-51, 1870-71), Iran (1977-81) and Bolshevik (1917-1924)," MPRA Paper 25903, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:25903
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/25903/1/MPRA_paper_25903.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/26276/1/MPRA_paper_26276.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Schools of Economic Thought, Epistemology of Economics > Heterodox Approaches > Thermoeconomics > The economy system and entropy minimization

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Revolutions; French Revolution; Iran Revolution; Russian Revolutions; Language; Neural Theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B0 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - General
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics
    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • B00 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - General - - - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • A19 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Other
    • P3 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • D87 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Neuroeconomics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:25903. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.