?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Review+of+Damasio%2C+Descartes'+Error&rft.creator=Dennett%2C+Daniel+C&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.description=The+legacy+of+Ren%C3%A9+Descartes'+notorious+dualism+of+mind+and+body+extends+far+beyond+academia+into+everyday+thinking%3A+%22These+athletes+are+prepared+both+mentally+and+physically%2C%22+and+%22There's+nothing+wrong+with+your+body--it's+all+in+your+mind.%22+Even+among+those+of+us+who+have+battled+Descartes'+vision%2C+there+has+been+a+powerful+tendency+to+treat+the+mind+(that+is+to+say%2C+the+brain)+as+the+body's+boss%2C+the+pilot+of+the+ship.+Falling+in+with+this+standard+way+of+thinking%2C+we+ignore+an+important+alternative%3A+viewing+the+brain+(and+hence+the+mind)+as+one+organ+among+many%2C+a+relatively+recent+usurper+of+control%2C+whose+functions+cannot+properly+be+understood+until+we+see+it+not+as+the+boss%2C+but+as+just+one+more+somewhat+fractious+servant%2C+working+to+further+the+interests+of+the+body+that+shelters+and+fuels+it%2C+and+gives+its+activities+meaning.+This+historical+or+evolutionary+perspective+reminds+me+of+the+change+that+has+come+over+Oxford+in+the+thirty+years+since+I+was+a+student+there.+It+used+to+be+that+the+dons+were+in+charge%2C+while+the+bursars+and+other+bureaucrats%2C+right+up+to+the+Vice+Chancellor%2C+acted+under+their+guidance+and+at+their+behest.+Nowadays+the+dons%2C+like+their+counterparts+on+American+university+faculties%2C+are+more+clearly+in+the+role+of+employees+hired+by+a+central+Administration%2C+but+from+where%2C+finally%2C+does+the+University+get+its+meaning%3F+In+evolutionary+history%2C+a+similar+change+has+crept+over+the+administration+of+our+bodies.+Where+resides+the+%22I%22+who+is+in+charge+of+my+body%3F+In+his+wonderfully+written+book%2C+Antonio+Damasio+seeks+to+restore+our+appreciation+for+the+perspective+of+the+body%2C+and+the+shared+balance+of+powers+from+which+we+emerge+as+conscious+persons.&rft.date=1995-08&rft.type=Newspaper%2FMagazine+Article&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F282%2F1%2Fdamasio.htm&rft.identifier=++Dennett%2C+Daniel+C++(1995)+Review+of+Damasio%2C+Descartes'+Error.++%5BNewspaper%2FMagazine+Article%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F282%2F