René Descartes · 1664
The Description of the Human Body
- Original title
- La Description du corps humain
- Language
- French
- Form
- Treatise
- Text
- Full text
- English
- No English translation · No public-domain English translation confirmed; modern translation in Cottingham et al., Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Cambridge).
- Source text
- fr.wikisource.org
- Selected
- Ben Breen, 2026-09-29; suggested by Claude research agents, 29 Sep 2026
- Status
- Arguments unverified; quotations chosen by machine, unchecked
Q09LIFE
Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?Yes. development is mechanical. Explains the living body's functions by the motion of matter alone, and states that explaining them requires explaining how the animal forms from its beginning by the same mechanical laws.
Summary disputed by reviewer: the Descartes candidates support only the first half of the summary; the development claim is the editors' paraphrase, not Descartes' text.
Written 1647-48, first published by Clerselier 1664 (Wikipedia 'Treatise on Man', BnF data). Wikisource Adam-Tannery text opened; the fetched page announced a section on the formation of the animal but the fetch tool reported the text breaking off, so no section title is given.