Description
The thinking of René Descartes has profoundly influenced Western culture. In this course we will explore two of his most influential ideas—his dualistic view of the self as a mind and a body working in tandem, and his notion that animals are merely complex automata—and the ways they have shaped modern culture in the past 150 years. How does the notion that humans have a soul shape bioethical questions like whether we should permit genetic editing, clone members of our species, or work to embody humans in computers and other machines? And how has the idea that animals are merely complex machines shaped the ways we use animal bodies to advance science and medicine, the ways we design machines, and the ethics of both?