René Descartes' (1596–1650) illustration of the stimulus–response cycle of visual perception, nervous system (pineal gland) and motor system
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Redirected from René Descartes' illustration of mind/body dualism)
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
René Descartes' (1596–1650) illustration of the stimulus–response cycle of visual perception, nervous system (pineal gland) and motor system[1][2][3].
Descartes believed inputs are passed on by the sensory organs to the pineal gland in the brain and from there to the immaterial spirit.
On the pineal gland he wrote:
- My view is that this gland is the principal seat of the soul, and the place in which all our thoughts are formed.[4]
- --in a letter of January 29, 1640 from Descartes to Lazare Meyssonnier
- [The] mechanism of our body is so constructed that simply by this gland's being moved in any way by the soul or by any other cause, it drives the surrounding spirits towards the pores of the brain, which direct them through the nerves to the muscles; and in this way the gland makes the spirits move the limbs.[5]
[edit]
See also
- Nervous system
- Motor system
- Sensory organ
- Méditations métaphysiques
- Dualism (philosophy of mind)
- Mind–body problem
- Illustration of the pain pathway in René Descartes' Treatise of Man
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "René Descartes' (1596–1650) illustration of the stimulus–response cycle of visual perception, nervous system (pineal gland) and motor system" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
![[1]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Descartes_mind_and_body.gif){kind=link}