Reducing Behavior to "Brain Disorders"

The tendency to reduce all behavioral problems to brain disorders that should be solved primarily through drugs is indicative of just how uncritically our society has embraced the philosophy of scientific materialism.  Scientific materialism adds plausibility to the idea that all behavioral problems, including criminal activity, can be fixed through biological and chemical interventions, even if research has yet to sustain such a claim.

The consequences of this overselling of science as the solution to crime and misbehavior have been tragic.  Instead of improving the human condition, it has led to dehumanization, with criminal defendants and delinquents treated as guinea pigs for experiments in the service of scientific ideology.


John G. West, "Darwin Day in America: How our politics and culture have been dehumanized in the name of science," p.101