Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Mettrie , Julien Offray De La and Thomson , Ann (1996-04-18), Machine Man and Other Writings, Cambridge Univ Pr, Retrieved on 2012-06-08Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: philosophy Memes
08 JUN 2012
There is No Scientific Basis for Prejudice
Break the chains of your prejudices and take up the torch of experience, and you will honour nature in the way she deserves, instead of drawing derogatory conclusions from the ignorance in which she has left you. Simply open your eyes and ignore what you cannot understand, and you will see that a labourer whose mind and knowledge extend no further than the edges of his furrow is no different essentially from the greatest genius, as would have been proved by dissecting the brains of Descartes ...Folksonomies: prejudice
Folksonomies: prejudice
The brains of laborers and geniuses are anatomically identical.
08 JUN 2012
The Exponential Complexity of Man
We can see that there is only one substance in the universe and that man is the most perfect one. He is to the ape and the cleverest animals what Huygens's planetary clock is to one of Julien Leroy's watches. If it took more instruments, more cogs, more springs to show or tell the time, if it took Vaucanson more artistry to make his flautist than his duck, he would have needed even more to make a speaking machine, which can no longer be considered impossible, particularly at the hands of a ne...Using automatons made to resemble ducks and the task of building one to resemble man.