Doublethink: "Divided brains" could explain political failures
By politics.co.uk staff
Politicians' collective failure to adequately address the financial crisis, the environment and other large scale social issues may be the fault of their "divided brains", a new report has argued.
The report, published by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), suggests the two hemispheres of the human brain have radically different 'world views' and, as a result, our ability to efficiently tackle the root causes of social problems is compromised.
"If you suspect that the growing neglect of arts and humanities is even more tragic than many already fear, or are hoping for some insight into why we might be blinkered enough to destroy our own planet, this report will offer some perspective on what we might do to redress these problems", said author Dr Jonathan Rowson.
According to the report, the abstract, instrumental, articulate view of the left hemisphere of the brain is steadily overtaking the contextual, humane view of the right side.
This presents itself in a number of ways in public discourse, including funding cuts for arts and humanities, the obsession with exam results, and climate change denial, according to the reports' authors
