Cartesian materialism

<p>In <a href="/facts/Philosophy_of_mind/o6yNRjwd">philosophy of mind</a>, cartesian materialism, a term coined by <a href="/facts/Daniel_Dennett/I5bzs3V6">Daniel Dennett</a>, views consciousness as tied to one or more specific brain areas that capture our subjective experience. Despite its name, this idea was not held by <a href="/facts/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes/ohqj6DMf">René Descartes</a>, who instead advocated substance <a href="/facts/Dualism_(philosophy_of_mind)/IbrW6R7C">dualism</a>—the separation of mind and body as distinct entities.
</p><p>In its simplest form, Cartesian materialism suggests there is a dedicated "place" in the brain, called as the <a href="/facts/Cartesian_theater/Iao1JnM7">Cartesian theater</a> by Dennett, where a unified representation of everything we consciously perceive—sights, sounds, smells, and more—exists at any given moment. According to this view, a hypothetical observer could locate the contents of consciousness in this privileged neural space, while anything outside it remains unconscious.
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Cartesian materialism open-in-new

Cartesian materialism