Easton Patricia
Claremont Graduate University, Department of Philosophy, 121 East Tenth Street, Claremont, CA 91711, USA.
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2011 Jun;42(2):203-9. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.12.004. Epub 2011 Feb 5.
There are two standing, incompatible accounts of Descartes' contributions to the study of psychosomatic phenomena that pervade histories of medicine, psychology, and psychiatry. The first views Descartes as the father of "rational psychology" a tradition that defines the soul as a thinking, unextended substance. The second account views Descartes as the father of materialism and the machine metaphor. The consensus is that Descartes' studies of optics and motor reflexes and his conception of the body-machine metaphor made early and important contributions to physiology and neuroscience but otherwise his impact was minimal. These predominately negative assessments of Descartes' contributions give a false impression of the role his philosophy played in the development of medicine and psychiatry in seventeenth-century France and beyond. I explore Descartes' influence in the little-known writings of a doctor from Toulouse, François Bayle (1622-1709). A study of Bayle gives us occasion to rethink the nature and role of psychosomatic explanation in Descartes' philosophy. The portrait I present is of a Cartesian science that had an actual and lasting effect on medical science and practice, and may offer something of value to practitioners today.
在医学、心理学和精神病学的历史中，存在两种关于笛卡尔对身心现象研究贡献的观点，这两种观点相互矛盾且一直存在。第一种观点认为笛卡尔是“理性心理学”之父，这一传统将灵魂定义为一种有思维、无广延的实体。第二种观点则认为笛卡尔是唯物主义和机器隐喻之父。人们的共识是，笛卡尔对光学和运动反射的研究以及他的身体-机器隐喻概念对生理学和神经科学做出了早期且重要的贡献，但除此之外，他的影响微乎其微。这些对笛卡尔贡献的主要负面评价，给人一种关于他的哲学在17世纪法国及以后医学和精神病学发展中所起作用的错误印象。我将探讨笛卡尔在图卢兹一位医生弗朗索瓦·贝耶（1622 - 1709）鲜为人知的著作中的影响。对贝耶的研究让我们有机会重新思考笛卡尔哲学中身心解释的本质和作用。我所呈现的图景是，一种笛卡尔式科学对医学科学和实践产生了实际且持久的影响，并且可能为当今的从业者提供一些有价值的东西。
