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Spirits and Clocks: Machine and Organism in Descartes PDF

198 Pages·2001·5.2 MB·English
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Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) CONTENTS List of Figures ....................................... ix Preface ............................................ xi Introduction ........................................ I I TALES OF THE BETE-MACHINE 7 Self-Movers ........................................ I 3 I. I Cycles I 5 1.2 The feu sans lumiere 25 2 Where Do Machines Come From? ....................... 32 2.I The First Circle 35 2.2 The Nervous System 37 2.3 Flows and Resistances, Fluids and Solids 38 2.4 Descartes' Tasks 40 3 The Uses of Usus .................................... 53 J.I Naming ofParts 54 3.2 The Assumption of Normality 6I II MACHINES, MECHANISMS, BomEs, ORGANS 65 4 Tools ofKnowledge .................................. 7I 4· I Exhibits 72 4.2 The Analysis of Capacities 78 4-3 Instrument and Organ 89 4-4 Artifacts 95 Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM CONTENTS 5 ]eux d'artifice ....................................... I03 5. I Simulation, Illusion, and Questions of Method I 04 5.2 The Double Twist I06 5. 3 The Scope oflntention I I I 6 Unity of the Body .................................. I I6 6.I Against Ends II7 6.2 Physical Unity I22 6.3 Dispositional Unity I25 6.4 Functional and Intentional Unity I32 6.5 Substantial Unity I40 Conclusion ....................................... I53 Bibliography ...................................... I59 Primary Sources .................................. I 59 Secondary Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 67 Index ............................................ I77 [viii] Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM FIGURES 1. Cardiac Circulation .................................. I9 2. Antagonistic Muscles ................................. 23 3. The First Paths in Generation: The Ur-Animal .............. 36 4. Formation of Sensory Nerves ........................... 3 8 5. Sexual Differentiation ................................. 48 6. Recreational Mechanics (Caus Forces mouvantes, Thm. I6) ....... 67 7· How One Object Distracts Us from Another (L'Homme AT I I, Fig. 35; Alq. I: 462) ..................... 73 8. Machine for MakingJets ofWater (Caus Forces mouvantes Liv. I, Prob. 9) ..................... 76 9. (i) Winch with Endless Screw (Zonca). (ii) Two-Cylinder Pump (Caus). (iii) Details from (ii) ....... 81-83 IO. Device for Lifting Water (adapted from Caus Forces mouvantes, Thm. 6) .......................... 84 I 1. (i) Circulatory System. (ii) The Brain (side view). (iii) The Pineal Gland and the Base of the Brain. (iv) The Pineal Gland (close up) (L'Homme AT II, Figs. I, 24, 27, 32) ................................ 85-86 I2. The Pineal Gland and Environs (Bauhin Theat. anat.) .......... 87 I3. Inclined Plane (AT I :439) ............................. 88 I4. Kinematic Chain (adapted from Reuleaux I874-s!I876, Fig. Io, P47) ............................ 128 I5. A Ball Dancing on a Spout ofWater (Caus Forces mouvantes Liv. 2, Prob. 2) .................... I29 Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM Spirits and Clocks Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM Spirits and Clocks Machine and Organism in Descartes Dennis Des Chene Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM Copyright © 200I by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 5I2 East State Street, Ithaca, New York I485o. First published 200 I by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Des Chene, Dennis. Spirits and clocks : machine and organism in Descartes I Dennis Des Chene. p. em. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN o-80I4-3764-4 (cloth : acid-free paper) r. Descartes, Rene, I596-I65o-Knowledge-Physiology. 2. Physiology-Philosophy. I. Title. QP2I .DJ78 2000 57 I' .oi-dC2I Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of non- wood fibers. Books that bear the logo of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) use paper taken from forests that have been inspected and certified as meeting the highest standards for environmen tal and social responsibility. For further information, visit our website at www. cornellp ress. cornell. edu. 7 9 Cloth printing IO 8 6 4 2 Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM To my mother and father Dorice Marie Des Chene Raymond Joseph Des Chene Unauthenticated Download Date | 2/2/19 4:28 AM

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Although the basis of modern biology is Cartesian, in the Anglophone biological literature Descartes's theories of biology have been more often ridiculed than studied (not so in the Iberoamerican, French and Italian literatures, of course, but the former pervade the media worldwide). Yet, Dennis Des
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