Genealogical narrative and self-knowledge in Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men

SUMMARY

Why did Rousseau cast the substance of the Second Discourse in the form of a genealogy? In this essay the author attempts to work out the relation between the literary form (genealogical narrative, as the author calls it) of the Discourse's two main parts and the content. A key thesis of Rousseau's text concerns our lack of self-knowledge, indeed, our ignorance of our ignorance. The author argues that in a number of ways genealogical narrative is meant to respond to that lack. In the course of his discussion he comments on Rousseau's puzzling remarks in the Second Discourse about his expository method. Further, given the thesis that we lack self-knowledge, Rousseau owes us an account of his genesis as self-knowing genealogist. He attempts to do so in part through his narrative of the ‘illumination of Vincennes’. The author examines that narrative as well, reading it and the Discourse in light of each other. Can Rousseau resolve the problems of self-reference that the philosophical use of genealogy often leads to? The article discusses this complex metaphilosophical problem, along with views about the value of genealogical accounts, in light of recent work by Robert Guay, John Kekes, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Frederick Neuhouser, among others.     

The discovery of motor cortex and its background

In 1870 Gustav Fritsch and Edvard Hitzig showed that electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex of a dog produced movements. This was a crucial event in the development of modern neuroscience because it was the first good experimental evidence for a) cerebral cortex involvement in motor function, b) the electrical excitability of the cortex, c) topographic representation in the brain, and d) localization of function in different regions of the cerebral cortex. This paper discusses their experiment and some developments in the previous two centuries that led to it including the ideas of Thomas Willis and Emanuel Swedenborg, the widespread interest in electricity and the localizations of function of Franz Joseph Gall, John Hughlings Jackson, and Paul Broca. We also consider the subsequent study of the motor cortex by David Ferrier and others.     

Reviews

SPECIAL STUDY ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NON‐SELF‐GOVERNING TERRITORIES. United Nations, N.Y., 1960. Pp. v + 42. $1.50.

LAND, “WATER AND FOOD. Herbert Addison. 2nd edition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1961. Pp. xii + 284. Stg. 21/‐.

THE ATTACK ON WORLD POVERTY. Andrew Shonfield. London, Chatto & Windus, 1960. Pp. x + 244. Australian Price 34/9.

THE ECONOMICS OF DEFENSE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE. Charles J. Hitch and Roland N. MeKean. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1960. Pp. xiv + 422. Australian price 98/3.

DEFENCE BY COMMITTEE. F. A. Johnson. London, Oxford University Press, 1960. Pp. viii + 416. Australian price 81/3.

EMPIRE INTO COMMONWEALTH—the Chichele Lectures, Oxford, May 1960. Earl Attlee. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. 54. Australian price 12/6.

TANGANYIKA AND INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP. B. T. G. Chidzero. For the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xii + 286. 2 maps. Australian price 57/9.

MULTI‐RACIAL SOUTH AFRICA. Z. J. de Beer. For the Institute of Race Relations. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. vii + 69. Australian price 10/‐.

POLITICAL AFRICA: A WHO'S WHO OF PERSONALITIES AND PARTIES. Ronald Segal. London, Stevens, 1961. Pp. xii + 475. Australian price 72/‐.

INDIA'S CONSTITUTION IN THE MAKING. B. N. Rau. Calcutta, Orient Longmans, 1960. Pp. 510. Rs. 25.

OIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST. S. H. Longrigg. For the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xiii + 401. Australian price 55/6.

TRADE PROTECTION IN AUSTRALIA. A. J. Reitsma. Leiden and Brisbane. H. E. Stenfert Kroese and University of Queensland Press, 1960. Pp. xi + 195. Australian price 40/‐.

NEW MEN OF PAPUA: A STUDY IN CULTURE CHANGE. Robert F. Maher. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1961, Pp. xii + 148.     

Anton Raederscheidt's distorted self-portraits and their significance for understanding balance in art

Following a right cerebral stroke, the German artist Anton Raederscheidt produced a remarkable series of self-portraits that depicted his severe visual neglect and gradual recovery. These distorted images, like those drawn by others with this disorder, inform us about lateral balance in art and why it is common in the art of cultures separated in time and space. After describing how artists in various cultures have employed lateral balance, I present Arnheim's view that this aspect of art is the result of visual forces generated by the brain. Following a brief history of visual neglect, I present evidence that this disorder provides us with clues to the origin of the visual forces responsible for lateral balance in art. The relevant brain mechanisms control exploration of visual space by integrating orienting movements with visual spatial information. The prevalence of lateral balance in art becomes understandable when we consider that these brain mechanisms evolved to promote survival in our vertebrate ancestors. I end with a speculative neurological account of the aesthetics of lateral balance--why it is pleasing and its absence is displeasing.