DESCARTES and his project of a fantasized brain.

Eliasz Engelhardt

doi:10.1590/1980-57642021dn15-020017

Abstract

ABSTRACT.Interest in anatomy dates from the earliest times. Such knowledge was acquired through dissections of animals and human corpses by many researchers. The macroscopic anatomy of the varied structures of the brain were identified over the centuries, and the predominating solid substance was seen as amorphous, and devoid of any specific function, until the Renaissance. René Descartes, a personage with a brilliant and creative mind, conceived the brain, its structure and function, in a distinct manner to what was known at his time. He valued the solid matter and gave it, for the first time, a theoretical minute structure, related to a presumptive function based on the presence of the pineal gland and the animal spirits, underlying cognitive, sensory and motor activities. Such structural view was endorsed, in a given sense, by the microscopic findings of Marcello Malpighi, which begun to change the understanding of the nervous system.

Highlights

Interest in anatomy dates from the most ancient times
Such knowledge was acquired through dissections of animals and human corpses by many researchers. Among those that must be cited are the pioneer studies of Aristotle (4th century BC) on animals, and Herophilus and Erasistratus (4th-3rd centuries BC) on human corpses. They were followed, much later, by two of the most relevant personalities in the history of anatomy, Claudius Galenus (2nd-3rd century AD), who established solid anatomic knowledge based on animal dissections, which lasted for more than a millennium, and Andreas Vesalius (16th century), with his milestone work on human anatomy.[1,2,3]
Descartes intended to give a physical theory of the universe to explain all the phenomena of nature, and with that purpose, he produced a text, between 1629 and 1633, planned to be published as a book (Le Monde), where one part should be about man (L’Homme).[7,8]

Summary

DESCARTES E SEU PROJETO DE UM CÉREBRO FANTASIOSO

A anatomia macroscópica de variadas estruturas do cérebro foi identificada com o passar dos séculos, e a substância sólida predominante foi vista como amorfa e destituída de qualquer função específica até o período do Renascimento. René Descartes, um personagem com uma mente brilhante e criativa, concebeu o cérebro, sua estrutura e função, de um modo distinto ao que era conhecido no seu tempo. Ele valorizou e deu à substância sólida, pela primeira vez, uma estrutura teórica formada por elementos minúsculos, relacionada a uma função presuntiva, baseada na presença da glândula pineal e dos espíritos animais, subjacentes às atividades cognitiva, sensorial e motora. De certa maneira, endossada pelos achados microscópicos de Marcello Malpighi, o que começou a modificar a compreensão do sistema nervoso. Palavras-chave: Descartes, cérebro, glândula pineal, espíritos animais, microscopia

INTRODUCTION

THE STRUCTURE OF THE CARTESIAN BRAIN

THE FUNCTION OF THE CARTESIAN BRAIN