TY - JOUR T1 - Descartes' error JF - Practical Neurology JO - Pract Neurol SP - 201 LP - 201 DO - 10.1136/practneurol-2014-000899 VL - 14 IS - 3 AU - Tom Hughes AU - Katharine Harding Y1 - 2014/06/01 UR - http://pn.bmj.com/content/14/3/201.abstract N2 - Damásio A. 1994. Decartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain ‘Cogito ergo sum’ (I think therefore I am) sums up the philosophy of René Descartes (figure 1)—on which Western ideas of consciousness and mind are often based—postulating a division between mind and body (or brain). Damásio says, “I am, therefore I think”. Or, to elaborate, “I am, therefore I think and I feel, and therefore I thrive”. His thesis is that our reasoning powers and the dissuasive (or persuasive) bodily emotions are in fact a life-saving, life-enhancing double act, and that without a body as a yard stick to perceive the outside world and respond to thoughts and memory, a mind as we know it could not exist. No longer should we regard feelings as a source of only detrimental influence on our reasoning skills. Damásio challenges their oil and water reputation and with … ER -