mind
Debating Meat III: Cartesian Cutlets
In my previous post on this subject, I discussed the theology of eating meat. My main focus was on the Christian view of the matter as exemplified by the writings of Thomas Aquinas and Augustine. I now turn to look at the metaphysical view put forth by Rene Descartes and how this relates to the [...]
Another Point About Canine Cognition
Descartes, most famous for writing “I think, therefore I am, also wrote about the minds of animals. Roughly put, his view was that animals lacked minds, at least as he saw minds (as immaterial metaphysical thinking substances). He had two main arguments for this: first, animal behavior can be explained without such minds using purely [...]
Descartes & My Dog
Around 1648 Rene Descartes wrote a letter to Henry More on the topic of whether animals think or not. While Descartes was well aware of the complex behavior of animals such as dogs, he regarded the belief that animals think to be fundamentally mistaken.
He does note the reason why people think that animals think: they [...]
Zombies
When Halloween draws close, I watch my favorite horror films and among these are the classic and new zombie films. Interestingly, philosophers have written quite a bit about zombies. Unfortunately, the zombies that philosophers tend to write about are not as cool as the zombies of the horror genre.
The philosophical zombies are beings who look [...]
Half a Brain
There is a popular, though mistaken, view that a typical person only uses 10% of her brain. If this view were true, then a person could lose up to 90% of her brain and still function normally. While this is not the case, it is actually true that a person can lose up to half [...]
Categories
Subscribe to TPM
Support TPM
Recent Comments