The imaginary of plasticity: neural embodiment, epigenetics and ecomorphs

Every epoch has its brain. The embodied brain seems to be today at the forefront of attempts to establish post-positivistic approaches in social science and social theory as well as non-reductionist conceptions of the brain and body in neuroscience, developmental science and psychology. But embodiment not only challenges prevalent epistemic and cultural assumptions in these disciplines; it also opens avenues for exploring the plasticity and the emergent epigenetic nature of the brain and body. Plasticity occupies the brain-body imaginary of today's epoch. At the heart of the imaginary of plasticity lies the possibility of recombining brain-body matter and understanding the making of ecologically dependent morphologies in a non-determinist manner. But plasticity as recombination becomes not only a radical challenge to determinist assumptions about the brain-body in Western thought, it becomes also a forceful element of its own regeneration and actualization.