Single Idea 13154

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain]

Full Idea

Is it with the blood that we think, or with the air or the fire that is in us? Or is it none of these, but the brain that supplies our senses of hearing and sight and smell.

Gist of Idea

Do we think and experience with blood, air or fire, or could it be our brain?

Source

Plato (Phaedo [c.374 BCE], 097a)

Book Reference

Plato: 'The Last Days of Socrates', ed/tr. Tredennick,Hugh [Penguin 1969], p.153


A Reaction

In retrospect it seems surprising that such clever people hadn't worked this one out, given the evidence of anatomy, in animals and people, and given brain injuries. By the time of Galen they appear to have got the answer.