Topic for 2nd Integrative Essay
Due Monday, October 9
Antonio Damasio's book, Descartes' Error, is dedicated to the idea that "... feelings are a
powerful influence on reason, that the brain systems required by the former are enmeshed in
those needed by the latter, and that such specific systems are interwoven with those which
regulate the body [p. 245]." Damasio describes evidence, based mainly on the behavioral effects
of damage to the frontal lobes and limbic system, that support his ideas about the functional
relations among human mind, emotion, brain, and body.
The meaning of the book's title, "Descartes' error", is explained in Damasio's final summary
chapter, "A passion for reasoning":
- "This is Descartes' error: the abyssal separation between body and mind, between the
sizable, dimensioned, mechanically operated, infinitely divisible body stuff, on the one
hand, and the unsizable, undimensional, un-pushpullable, nondivisible mind stuff; the
suggestion that reasoning, and moral judgment, and the suffering that comes from physical
pain or emotional upheaval might exist separately from the body. Specifically: the
separation of the most refined operations of the mind from the structure and operation of
a biological organism [pp. 249-250]."
Damasio says that his hypotheses about emotion, reason, and the human brain are "offered in the
hope that they may attract further investigation and be subject to revision as new findings appear
[p. 245]."
>> Discuss the meaning and importance of Damasio's hypotheses about emotion, reason,
and the human brain. How adequate is the evidence in favor of these hypotheses? What
questions and further investigations might be stimulated by Damasio's ideas and research?