A filosofia de Espinosa no pensamento de Damásio e de Atlan

Abstract

This study is the result of the examination of some approximations made between the thought of the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza and the researches and reflections made in our time by the biophysicist Henri Atlan and the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. The examination consisted, first, in the identification of Spinoza s concepts used in the works of these authors, which involved highlighting the relationships that these scientists recognize with Spinoza s thought, and also finding some other legitimate relationships that were not indicated by them. The result of this initial task was the gathering of the reflections around two themes: (1) conatus theory, and (2) Spinoza s mind-body theory. The examination also consisted in the discussion of how these concepts are used by Spinoza, and the detection of their new meanings in the context of Damasio s and Atlan s researches. In addition, a critical assessment of these appropriations was made, in which losses and reductions of the philosopher s thought were analyzed. Not always the approximations made by the two authors with Spinoza s mind-body theory are consistent, be it in virtue of a lack of evidence to justify them, as in the case of Atlan, or due to the adoption of a monistic metaphysical perspective different from that of Spinoza, as in the case of Damasio. However, concerning the notion of conatus the assimilations proved more successful. The "effort to persevere in being" can be properly translated as the impetus that rules the homeostatic mechanisms that govern life or as the force responsible for the natural systems self-organization.