Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Cartesian critters can't remember.

Devin Sanchez Curry1

  • 1University of Pennsylvania, Department of Philosophy, 433 Cohen Hall, 249 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304, USA.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
|June 3, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same journal

Transferring ways of thinking and mathematizing: The statistical approach between physics and biology.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026
Same journal

The Dynamics of Quantum Gravity: The Missing Piece in the Spacetime Emergentist Account.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026
Same journal

A frame-based approach for reconstructing theories.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026
Same journal

Strategic ignorance, and the management of performative effects: Lessons from climate economics.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026
Same journal

Fictionalism and scientific realism: A response to ungrounded criticism.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026
Same journal

Is Emergy really a theory of value ?

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026
See all related articles

René Descartes viewed memory as intellectual reconstruction. He distinguished between universal intellectual memory and particular sensory memory, unique to mind-body unions, not machines.

Area of Science:

  • Philosophy of Mind
  • History of Philosophy
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • René Descartes's theories on memory are complex and subject to interpretation.
  • Previous scholarship has debated whether Cartesian mechanisms allow non-human entities to remember.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a unified interpretation of Descartes's concept of declarative memory.
  • To analyze the distinction between intellectual and sensory memory in Cartesian philosophy.

Main Methods:

  • Textual analysis of Descartes's key works, including "Rules for the Direction of the Mind," "Treatise of Man," and "Passions of the Soul."
  • Interpretation of Descartes's views on memory as intellectual and neurophysiological reconstruction.

Main Results:

Keywords:
Animal spiritsDescartesMachine psychologyMind-body unionSensory memory

Related Experiment Videos

  • Descartes proposed two types of declarative memory: intellectual and sensory.
  • Sensory memory is a capacity exclusive to human mind-body unions, involving neurophysiological reconstruction.
  • This interpretation refutes the idea that Cartesian "critters" (automatons) possess memory.

Conclusions:

  • Descartes's philosophy strictly limits memory to integrated mind-body entities.
  • Understanding sensory memory as a neurophysiological reconstruction clarifies its uniquely human nature within Descartes's framework.