Spirits and Clocks: Machine and Organism in Descartes

198 Pages·2001·5.2 MB·English

by  Dennis Des Chene

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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
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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]
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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
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Spirits and Clocks
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Spirits and Clocks
Machine and Organism in Descartes
Dennis Des Chene
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London
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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
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To my mother and father
Dorice Marie Des Chene
Raymond Joseph Des Chene
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