PSYC 2700 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Natural Magic, Pineal Gland, Molecular Machine
27 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The belief that the body is physical while the mind is something else (e. g. , spirit, mental energy, ) But almost all people believed this before the modern age and most people still do believe this. Actually, descartes was trying to create the foundations for modern. Body, including the nervous system, is a biological machine - mechanistic explanation. The mind (volitional action, rational thought) is not physical. Mind controls the body through the nervous system. Brain is used to communicate between mind and nervous system. Descartes was religious, so this is one reason. But also there was no such thing as a machine that could think at that time. So it was hard to see how a mind could be a machine, like the body. His writings on theology and alchemy were much thicker than his writings on physics. He wanted one god and one set of rules. That is why he didn"t become a priest.
