Descartes’ Error

Buchzusammenfassung

Antonio Damasio is a professor of psychology, philosophy, and neurology at the University of Southern California, where he is also the Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute and holds the David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience. His previous books include The Feeling of What Happens, Looking for Spinoza, Self Comes to Mind, and The Strange Order of Things, all of which have been critically acclaimed and taught at universities around the world. He has been the recipient of the Grawemeyer Award, the Asturias Prize in Science and Technology, and the Signoret Prize, among many other distinctions.

As we’ve explored, practical reasoning is deeply intertwined with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VPC), the limbic system, and the somatosensory cortex, each playing a unique role in processing emotions and guiding decisions. Elliot’s story, alongside Phineas Gage’s, highlights how damage to the VPC disrupts the integration of emotional cues—particularly secondary emotions—into rational thinking, leaving individuals unable to make timely, effective decisions. While basic emotions remain intact, secondary emotions, shaped by personal experiences and reliant on the VPC, are critical for prioritizing and choosing among options. This collaboration between brain regions underscores the complexity of practical reasoning, which depends on the seamless interaction of emotional, physical, and cognitive processes. However, the exact mechanisms linking these systems remain a puzzle, leaving us with one final question: how do these elements work together to enable rational thought?

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