Nicolaus Steno and the Cartesian Brain
Main Article Content
Keywords
Nicolaus Steno, René Descartes, History of Medicine, Cartesian, Neuroanatomy
Abstract
Widely regarded as the founder of modern Western Philosophy, René Descartes (1596-1650) sought to look beyond the established Aristotelian traditions. His mechanistic interpretations of cerebral anatomy in L’homme (Treatise on Man) were heavily scrutinised by contemporary scholars. Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686), one of the most renowned Danish anatomists of the Scientific Revolution, launched powerful criticisms on Descartes’ anatomical errors. This paper examines the contributions of Steno and Descartes to the intellectual evolution of neuroanatomy from late antiquity to the Renaissance. In particular, the paper explores Steno’s classic, Discours sur l’anatomie du cerveau (The Discourse on the Anatomy of the Brain) to shed light on his reception of Cartesian philosophy.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
How to Cite
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.