About book Descartes' Bones Descartes' Bones Descartes' Bones (2008)
Not that interested in the topic of the book. Quick two chapters on Rene Descartes, a philosopher, mathematician, scientist in the 1600s. Died in Sweden in 1650. View the human body as a machine that can be fine tuned, and wanted to find out how to make humans live forever. Made a clear distinction between the mind and body, i.e. dualism. Descartes is considered the father of Modernity. Achieved cult like following after death. Challenge the Catholic Church a bit, but overall studied to show science is an extension of Christian faith.Died and buried in Sweden. Body later translated to France. Remains dug up again and placed in the “Pantheon”, a temple created during the French revolution as a moment to secularism. The French Revolution was a violent revolt against the King, the established Catholic Church, and Christianity. A disgusting period. The book did not go into this too much, but serves as a backdrop.A whole bunch of philosophies and scientific thoughts concerning the human body and the mind are then discussed in the book, like phrenology and anthropology. The merging of the mind and body, i.e., though is a product of material items and hence man is a product of the sum of the parts is the conclusion of these philosophies, which may or may not have strayed from Descartes, I’m not really sure, and did not pay much attention to this part of the books.There is a whole bunch of controversy about the remains of Descartes, and who took his skull, and if the skull was even his. The body was dug up and re-buried three times, and the museum that contained the remains flooded in 1910. Also the whole French Revolution fiasco. A Swedish guard may have taken the skull when the remains were first translated back in the 1600s. I don’t care that much. It was interesting that some art historian took a portrait of Descartes, then compared it the supposed skull, then from the skull drew a painting of the face that would have been on the skull, and somehow came to the conclusion that the skull was in fact Descartes. This made international headlines in 1910s. NY Times declared this as proof that the skull was Descartes. Huh? No. Author just relates this info, and does not agree with this either. Flaws in this method discussed in book. Anyway, a separate mind and body theory or a combined mind and body are issues that result in various worldviews contained on the left and right. Somehow a separate Mind and Body equals absolutes, while a merged mind and body means everything and anything is relative. Well, that is the conclusion. There is missing connections in that, don’t care enough to flesh that out. Maybe will revisit this book and person at a later time. I didn't expect this to be a page turner for me, but it was. The historical, philosophical, and chronological elements were presented in such a way that even I who have not been a student of philosophy in many years was able to be educated and fascinated. A great read for anyone who wants to explore not only the modern conflict of faith and secularism, but also the roles of connection between them.
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Really interesting book on the divide between faith and reason. Great history of philosophy.
—Monica
Never thought a book about philosophy could be that interesting. Mush have been the bones.
—anonymousbby
