Thoughts through Centuries

In the Order of Things by Michael Foucault after the Renaissance there was a large change over in the way that knowledge is perceived. As the Renaissance was a time period in which there was dramatic development in science, art, and literature as persons moved away from the Middle Age. It was a period of great importance as it signified a time in as a large amount of development began to occur. In the time after the Renaissance, the knowledge was significantly different than what it was before As Foucault compares the how perception has changed in that time, do you believe that a similar event is occurring presently or will occur in the future from the way knowledge is currently developing? Do you think that a contrast in the thoughts of different centuries will ever cease to occur?

The Soul of Science

In class today we discussed the Calcutta chromosome 'discovered' by Mangala is a means of transferring "human traits: it's all consciousness and soul at that end of the spectrum. (251)" In philosophy one of the most prominent debates is over the body and the soul. Some believe that the body is merely a vessel for the soul while others believe that there is no soul at all. Then again, there is a popular belief that the mind and the body exist separately. Renee Descartes believed that the mind and body were connected by the pineal gland in the brain, but this hypothesis has since been proven false. Is Ghosh proposing a theory analogous to Descartes's about a biological basis for the soul? Do you think Ghosh's Calcutta Chromosome is scientifically possible? If so will it ever be possible to prove or disprove this theory? I think rather than trying to propose an alternative biological source for the sould, Ghosh is using science to show that not everything can be known or understood. The more we know due to scientific advances, the clearer it is that we know very little.