Antonio R. Damasio - Descartes Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

PENGUIN BOOKS

DESCARTES ERROR

Antonio Damasio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Neurology and Psychology at the University of Southern California, where he directs the new Brain and Creativity Institute. He is also adjunct professor at the Salk Institute and at the University of Iowa. He is the recipient of numerous awards (several shared with his wife Hanna Damasio, also a neurologist and neuroscientist), most recently the 2005 Prince of Asturias Prize in Science and Technology. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the author of two other widely acclaimed books, The Feeling of What Happens and Looking for Spinoza, which are translated in over 30 languages.

An ambitious and meticulous foray into the nature of being.

The Boston Globe

Tap-dancing on the edge between philosophy and science, Damasio cogently rejects simplistic divisions between mind and body.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Notable Book of the Year)

Damasio is to be congratulated for presenting us with a clear view of how reason and emotions interact to produce our decisions, our beliefs, our plans for action He has made a superb contribution to this ongoing and exciting endeavor by recognizing the links between the body and the mind, emotion and reason.

Natural History

Better than a novel. Descartes Error constitutes a true event that revolutionizes our understanding of the most precious of our organs.

Figaro Magazine

Here, at last, is an attempt by one of the worlds foremost neurologists to synthesize what is known about the workings of the human brain. It bases its arguments on a profound knowledge of the brain rather than on a wish to redesign it as an engineer might. It deserves to become a classic.

David Hubel, Nobel laureate, Harvard University

Descartes Error is a delightfully written account of the authors views on brain function. It is suitable for people who wonder how we wonder, for physicians who need to be reminded of what a wonderful creation is the brain, and for scientists who want to see how a hypothesis should be tested.

Journal of the American Medical Association

Damasios arguments are ingenious and wide ranging His thoughtful and modest exposition should be taken seriously. Apart from illuminating the function of the fontal lobes, he has proposed a new physiological mechanism that is likely to be much investigated over the next few years. It is no mean feat to say something original and intelligible about emotion.

Nature

Damasio has written this book with the literary skill of a suspense novel and yet it offers sound, easily accessible and reliable information about what is known of the anatomy, organization and functions of the forebrain by all means, read this book.

Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science

Damasio lays out a provocative theory emotion is part and parcel of what we call cognition. If there is a severe impairment of the emotions, we cannot have rationality.

The Washington Post

A lucid demonstration that human emotion is as worthy of scientific investigation as motor function, language or memory Its most important achievement is the challenge it poses to cognitive neuroscience. We may well be about to discover that the heart is after all in the head.

Financial Times

DESCARTES ERROR

Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

ANTONIO DAMASIO

PENGUIN BOOKS

For Hanna

PENGUIN BOOKS

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First published in the United States of America by G. P. Putnams Sons,
a division of the Putnam Berkley Group, Inc. 1994
Published in Penguin Books 2005

20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

Copyright Antonio R. Damasio, 1994

All rights reserved

All figures are original. The figure on page 28 was prepared by Kathleen Rockland.
All others are by Hanna Damasio. The figure on page 104 contains a photomicrograph from the work of Roger Tootell, reproduced with his permission and that of the Journal of Neuroscience. The figures on pages 141 and 143 contain photos of Julie Fiez, used with her permission.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

Damasio, Antonio R.

Descartes error: emotion, reason, and the human brain / Antonio R. Damasio
p. cm.

ISBN: 978-1-101-64013-5

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. EmotionsPhysiological aspects. 2. ReasonPhysiological aspects.

3. Neuropsychology. 4. Title.

QP401.D2 1994 153.43-dc20 94-28473 CIP

Printed in the United States of America

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.

Phineas P. Gage. Gage Was No Longer Gage. Why Phineas Gage? An Aside on Phrenology. A Landmark by Hindsight

The Problem. An Aside on the Anatomy of Nervous Systems. The Solution

A New Mind. Responding to the Challenge. Reasoning and Deciding

Evidence from Other Cases of Prefrontal Damage. Evidence from Damage Beyond Prefrontal Cortices. A Reflection on Anatomy and Function. A Fountainhead. Evidence from Animal Studies. An Aside on Neurochemical Explanations.
Conclusion

A Mysterious Alliance. Of Organisms, Bodies, and Brains. States of Organisms. Body and Brain Interact: The Organism Within. Of Behavior and Mind. Organism and Environment Interact: Taking On the World Without. An Aside on the Architecture of Neural Systems. An Integrated Mind from Parcellated Activity. Images of Now, Images of the Past, and Images of the Future. Forming Perceptual Images. Storing Images and Forming Images in Recall. Knowledge Is Embodied in Dispositional Representations. Thought Is Made Largely of Images. Some Words on Neural Development