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Full Idea
Galen established by experiments in neural anatomy that the brain really is, contra the Stoics and Aristotelians, the body's control centre.
Clarification
'Contra' means in opposition to
Gist of Idea
Galen showed by experiment that the brain controls the body
Source
report of Galen (On Hippocrates and Plato [c.170]) by R.J. Hankinson - Galen (damaged)
Book Ref
'Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy', ed/tr. Zeyl,Donald J. [Fitzroy Dearborn 1997], p.243
A Reaction
And about time too. This is one of the most significant events in the development of human understanding. No one has been able to go back to the old view, even Descartes, no matter how much they may long to do so.
5987 | Alcmaeon was the first to say the brain is central to thinking [Alcmaeon, by Staden, von] |
5718 | The mind is in the middle of the breast, because there we experience fear and joy [Lucretius] |
5717 | The mind is a part of a man, just like a hand or an eye [Lucretius] |
6003 | Galen showed by experiment that the brain controls the body [Galen, by Hankinson] |
18462 | The soul is everywhere and nowhere in the body, and must be its cause [Porphyry] |
6261 | The soul is in the brain, as shown by head injuries [Montaigne] |
21840 | A meeting of man and animal can be deterritorialization (like a wasp with an orchid) [Deleuze] |
5802 | Representations are in the head, but their content is not, as stories don't exist in their books [Dretske] |
6641 | Externalists say minds depend on environment for their very existence and identity [Lowe] |