"Descartes' Error"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Antonio Damasio, in "Descartes? Error", undertakes the ambitious task of convincing the reader to reconsider the preconceptions he or she is likely to have on the subject of decision making and rationality. It looks at how his principle theme, that reason and emotion are closely linked, is clearly and compellingly argued from a solid base in neuroscientific research.

From the Paper:

"Damasio, confronted by Elliot, finds himself reconsidering his own ideas about reason; now it seemed that perhaps it wasn't so that emotion and reason were at odds with each other. Obviously pure reason, which was quite present in Elliot according to the intelligence tests, was not sufficient for wise decision-making. Damasio takes a closer look at typical concepts of rationality which show that this does seem likely; after all, we all know that we do not make our decisions by computing possible outcomes of every option, doing statistical analysis, and so on. He suggests that there should be something else other than pure reason that contributes to our ability of rational decision-making."

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