Smith C U
Vision Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
J Hist Neurosci. 1998 Aug;7(2):93-100. doi: 10.1076/jhin.7.2.93.1868.
Rene Descartes was early accused of taking his central philosophical proposition from St Augustine. Did he also take his central neurophysiological concept from the same source? This is the question which this paper sets out to answer. It is concluded that the foundational neurophysiology propounded in L'Homme does indeed show strong and interesting resemblences to Augustine's largely Erasistratean version. Descartes, however, working within the new paradigm of seventeenth-century physical science, introduced a new principle: whereas Augustine's neurophysiology is pervaded throughout by a vital factor, the pneuma, Descartes' theory involved only inanimate material forces. It is concluded, further, that in spite of the interesting similarities between Augustinian and Cartesian neurophysiology there is no evidence for any direct plagiarism. It seems more likely that Augustine's influence was filtered through the Galenical physiologists of Descartes' own time and of the preceding century.
勒内·笛卡尔早年被指责其核心哲学命题取自圣奥古斯丁。他的核心神经生理学概念是否也源自同一出处呢？这就是本文试图回答的问题。结论是，《论人》中提出的基础神经生理学与奥古斯丁在很大程度上基于埃拉西斯特拉图斯学说的版本确实存在强烈且有趣的相似之处。然而，笛卡尔在17世纪物理科学的新范式下工作，引入了一个新原则：奥古斯丁的神经生理学自始至终都渗透着一个 vital factor（生命要素），即元气，而笛卡尔的理论只涉及无生命的物质力量。进一步的结论是，尽管奥古斯丁派和笛卡尔派的神经生理学之间存在有趣的相似之处，但没有证据表明存在直接抄袭行为。更有可能的情况是，奥古斯丁的影响是通过笛卡尔所处时代及其前一个世纪的盖伦派生理学家过滤而来的。
