more on this theme
|
more from this thinker
Single Idea 24027
[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain
]
Full Idea
The motive power or the nerves themselves originate in the brain, which contains the imagination, which moves them in a thousand ways, as the common sense is moved by the external sense.
Gist of Idea
Nerves and movement originate in the brain, where imagination moves them
Source
René Descartes (Rules for the Direction of the Mind [1628], 12)
Book Ref
Descartes,René: 'Rules for the Direction of the Mind' [Newcomb Library 2023], p.36
A Reaction
This sounds a lot more physicalist than his later explicit dualism in Meditations. Even in that work the famous passage on the ship's pilot acknowledged tight integration of mind and brain.
The
19 ideas
from 'Rules for the Direction of the Mind'
24018
|
One truth leads us to another
[Descartes]
|
24019
|
If we accept mere probabilities as true we undermine our existing knowledge
[Descartes]
|
24020
|
We all see intuitively that we exist, where intuition is attentive, clear and distinct rational understanding
[Descartes]
|
24022
|
Our souls possess divine seeds of knowledge, which can bear spontaneous fruit
[Descartes]
|
24021
|
The method starts with clear intuitions, followed by a process of deduction
[Descartes]
|
24023
|
All the sciences searching for order and measure are related to mathematics
[Descartes]
|
24024
|
The secret of the method is to recognise which thing in a series is the simplest
[Descartes]
|
24025
|
Clear and distinct truths must be known all at once (unlike deductions)
[Descartes]
|
24028
|
The force by which we know things is spiritual, and quite distinct from the body
[Descartes]
|
24027
|
Nerves and movement originate in the brain, where imagination moves them
[Descartes]
|
24026
|
Our four knowledge faculties are intelligence, imagination, the senses, and memory
[Descartes]
|
24031
|
When Socrates doubts, he know he doubts, and that truth is possible
[Descartes]
|
24029
|
Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants
[Descartes]
|
24030
|
3+4=7 is necessary because we cannot conceive of seven without including three and four
[Descartes]
|
24032
|
Clever scholars can obscure things which are obvious even to peasants
[Descartes]
|
24033
|
Most scholastic disputes concern words, where agreeing on meanings would settle them
[Descartes]
|
24035
|
Unity is something shared by many things, so in that respect they are equals
[Descartes]
|
24036
|
I can only see the proportion of two to three if there is a common measure - their unity
[Descartes]
|
24034
|
If someone had only seen the basic colours, they could deduce the others from resemblance
[Descartes]
|