Julien La Mettrie
La Mettrie, Julien (de) (1709-1751) Born on December 25, La Mettrie was encouraged to become a priest but turned to medicine instead. Quick-witted and quick-tempered, La Mettrie wrote pointed and often satirical articles on medicine and its practice. During the war between France and Austria (1742), La Mettrie caught a high fever. During his recovery, he considered the relationship between the mind and body, and concluded that they are more fully intertwined that Descartes had proposed. Indeed, La Mettrie’s solution was to disavow any spiritual aspect of the mind. Like Hobbes, La Mettrie was a physical monist: all that exists is matter. Matter could be rearranged, which explained humans as being more complex animals, but there is no qualitative difference between them.
WhatsItLike has interviews with people from a braod range of back-grounds, philosophies and jobs. I started this site to give my students a better understanding of the kind of jobs available in the real world. But even if you're not interested in picking a career, I think you'll like them. People are simply fascinating. And as Oprah says everyone has a story.
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!