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Thesis ID: CBB329830813

A History of Human Physiology and 17th C. Philosophy: Descartes, Spinoza, and the Current State of Neuroscience (2020)

Richard Velkley (Advisor)
DeFranco, Daniel J. (Author)

Richard Velkley
Tulane University
Publication date: 2020
Language: English

URI: http://www.proquest.com/docview/2564122265/abstract/29886277FA714749PQ/5

Publication Date: 2020
Physical Details: 257

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Physiology Human body Neurosciences Mind and body Philosophy 17th century Europe Spinoza, Baruch Descartes, René

In the early 1630s, René Descartes developed a speculative treatise on the functional structures of the human body and brain. His work, The Treatise on Man, constituted the first attempt at a complete human physiology, inspiring a generation of scientists and physicians who developed Descartes’ speculations into a genuine field of scientific inquiry. It is the intent of this discussion to determine how Descartes’ speculations in human physiology influenced the direction of 17th c. European philosophy. The above question is often dismissed by scholars who argue that Descartes abandons scientific pursuits for philosophy, finding that science could not provide the kind of knowledge Descartes craved. In contrast, I argue that the themes that emerge in the Treatise are continually developed by Descartes throughout his philosophic career. This is evident in Meditations on First Philosophy, where Descartes demonstrates a preoccupation with (1) the possible resemblance between sensory ideas and their objects and (2) the independence of our nature as a thinking thing from our nature as a corporeal body, topics of great importance in the Treatise. Descartes’ contemporaries, specifically Spinoza, were influenced by these scientific speculations. In the Ethics, Spinoza identifies Descartes’ account of human nature as the specific view he intends to critique and replace with a novel account of human nature, i.e. the conatus doctrine. While ultimately in disagreement with Descartes, Spinoza freely turns to human physiology to both attack Descartes’ views and construct his own account of human nature. Thus, far from rejecting the place of the human sciences in philosophy, Spinoza embraces it. Finally, as a means of demonstrating the philosophic value of Descartes and Spinoza’s engagement with human physiology, I employ their metaphysical insights in a critique of contemporary scientific research. Specifically, I will evaluate neuroscientific studies on the phantom limb, arguing that, in their explanations, researchers tend to unreflectively employ the metaphysical assumption that neural structures work to support an accurate representation of the body to the subject. While this view may ultimately prove correct, it blinds researchers to alternative explanations

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