''Man a Machine'' (French: ''L'homme Machine'') is a work of

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...

philosophy by the 18th-century

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

physician and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Julien Offray de La Mettrie, first published in 1747. In this work, de La Mettrie extends Descartes' argument that animals are mere automatons, or machines, to human beings. He denies

dualism Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another ** ...

and existence of the soul as a

substance Substance may refer to: * Matter, anything that has mass and takes up space Chemistry * Chemical substance, a material with a definite chemical composition * Drug substance ** Substance abuse, drug-related healthcare and social policy diagnosis ...

separate from matter.

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...

discusses de La Mettrie's claim in relation to evolution and quantum mechanics.

"Yet the doctrine that ''man is a machine'' was argued most forcefully in 1751, long before the theory of evolution became generally accepted, by de La Mettrie; and the theory of evolution gave the problem an even sharper edge, by suggesting there may be no clear distinction between living matter and dead matter. And, in spite of the victory of the new quantum theory, and the conversion of so many physicists to indeterminism, de La Mettrie's doctrine that man is a machine has perhaps more defenders than before among physicists, biologists and philosophers; especially in the form of the thesis that man is a computer."Popper, K.:
Of Clouds and Clocks
', included in ''Objective Knowledge'', revised, 1978, p. 224.

La Mettrie cites how the body and soul are one in sleep, how humans must nourish their bodies, and the intense effects of

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

on both the body and the soul, or

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

, noting that "diverse states of the soul are always correlated with those of the body."

References

External links

''Man a Machine'' - 1748 English translation of ''L'homme machine''

1912 Open Court French-English edition
(English translation by

Gertrude C. Bussey Gertrude Carman Bussey (13 January 1888 – 12 March 1961) was an American academic philosopher and activist for women's rights, civil liberties, and peace. Education and academic career Gertrude Bussey first attended Barnard College befo ...

, rev. by Mary Whiton Calkins
Full text
of same archived by Project Gutenberg.
'Review by the stand up philosophers'
1748 books Materialism Metaphysics of mind Metaphysics literature Philosophy of mind literature Modern philosophical literature {{metaphysics-book-stub

See also

References

External links