Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

by Antoni R . Damasio (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $6.70

• Used

  Hardcover
  1995

  $17.01

• New

  Paperback
  2006

  $13.73

  In the centuries since Descartes famously proclaimed, 'I think, therefore I am,' science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person's true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended until recently to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes' Error . Antonio Damasio challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wonderfully engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behaviour.