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Chapter Foundations of Human and Animal Sensory Awareness: Descartes and Willis

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In arguing against the likelihood of consciousness in non-human animals, Descartes advances a slippery slope argument that if thought were attributed to any one animal, it would have to be attributed to all, which is absurd. This paper examines the foundations of Thomas Willis’ comparative neuroanatomy against the background of Descartes’ slippery slope argument against animal consciousness. Inspired by Gassendi’s ideas about the corporeal soul, Thomas Willis distinguished between neural circuitry responsible for reflex behaviour and that responsible for cognitively or consciously mediated behaviour. This afforded Willis a non-arbitrary basis for distinguishing between animals with thought and consciousness and those without, a methodology which retains currency for neuroscience today.

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Series Title

Knowledge and its Histories,

Call Number

-

Publisher

www.fupress.com/ : Firenze University Press., Florence, 2023

Collation

oer.unej.ac.id

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9791221501698

Classification

NONE

Content Type

text

Media Type

computer

Carrier Type

online resource

Edition

-

Subject(s)

Animal

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

Brown, Deborah

Other Information

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-

Source

https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/128357

Validator

Suwardi

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.36253/979-12-215-0169-8.06

Journal Volume

-

Journal Issue

-

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