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Full Idea
All the soul's faculties depend so much on the specific organisation of the brain and of the whole body that they are clearly nothing but that organisation.
Gist of Idea
The soul's faculties depend on the brain, and are simply the brain's organisation
Source
Julien Offray de La Mettrie (Machine Man [1747], p.26)
Book Ref
La Mettrie,Julien Offray de: 'Machine Man and Other Writings', ed/tr. Thomson,Ann [CUP 1996], p.26
A Reaction
An interesting idea because it suggests that La Mettrie is a functionalist, rather than simply a reductive physicalist.
| 7648 | The sun and rain weren't made for us; they sometimes burn us, or spoil our seeds [La Mettrie] |
| 7649 | There is no clear idea of the soul, which should only refer to our thinking part [La Mettrie] |
| 7646 | There is no abrupt transition from man to animal; only language has opened a gap [La Mettrie] |
| 7647 | The imagination alone perceives all objects; it is the soul, playing all its roles [La Mettrie] |
| 23225 | The soul's faculties depend on the brain, and are simply the brain's organisation [La Mettrie] |
| 7650 | All thought is feeling, and rationality is the sensitive soul contemplating reasoning [La Mettrie] |
| 7651 | With wonderful new machines being made, a speaking machine no longer seems impossible [La Mettrie] |
| 7652 | Man is a machine, and there exists only one substance, diversely modified [La Mettrie] |
| 7645 | When falling asleep, the soul becomes paralysed and weak, just like the body [La Mettrie] |