Friday, February 1, 2008
Descartes: Discourse Part 5
During the Part 5 Discourse, there is alot being said about the human body and how we are so complex. Descartes goes into detail about the heart and all the specifics, such as blood flow and body warmth. One part that really interested me was on page 27 where he speaks about the eleven membranes which act like doors opening and closing. He said this causes the blood to move in one direction and cannot go backwards. To me this sounds like an analogy on life, as if he is saying that you can only go in one direction in life; fowards. You cannot go back in time, so you have to keep moving ahead.
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8 comments:
Yeah, I agree with that analogy. But even more so I believe that when he talks about how it is so set that the blood cannot flow backwards, and that there are certain stuctures that prevent this from ever happening. Those structures, which are mainly the eleven membranes you speak of, just keep the circulation moving and moving, with never having a build up or hesistation at one place or another. I believe that this part is so important to your idea, I think it really emphasizes it to a greater extent. The blood never stays in one spot, or pools, it just keeps going filtering through it's intense cycle, it just keeps flowing flawlessly. Interestingg...
Yes, I do agree with that, it sounds like an analogy. I think he is saying what's done is done your only choice is to move on. Just like the saying goes, "I wish I could turn back the hands of time" D's way of thinking on this point I don't agree because not everything you can keep moving forward without stopping to think or even trying to fix it.
Why do you think he is so fascinated about why the blood cannot move backwards? Maybe we cannot go backwards in the sense of events, that we should not return to past events in our lives? Maybe no significance at all?
Interesting idea, I do agree, that is not something I picked up on. The blood flow may represent life in the sense that you are unable to revisit past events, just like your blood cannot move backwards, neither can you.
I also agree with you. He says how blood can not move backward and that is the same in real life. One can not erase the past. What happened before the present is gone and only there in memory. Blood ciculation can not flow backward but only propel in a foward cycle.
I would have to agree with all of you! I feel like he is saying that we can not visit our past and our lives continue to keep moving forward. Yet as Phil02 states.. we are able to stop and think.. but time does keep ticking...
that's a lot of interpretation... maybe he's just talking about blood, no?
Maybe the blodd is what he is just talking about. But why would he want to talk about just blood and not relate it to anything. He's covering up alot in this chapter so I tried to look a little deeper than that.
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