Consider now that mathematics is, for #Descartes, the paradigm, the highest level, of human
thinking. This is why, in spite of Descartes' dualism, there is a great unity in his
understanding of mind, from a modern perspective: both the res cogitans and its physical
support obey "formal" or "mechanical" rules. Their description is derived from the concrete
experience of the clocks and automata of the time as well as from Descartes' early steps
towards modern metamathematical reflections and mathematical rigor, largely related to the
nature of Analytic Geometry.
In the rationalist tradition, the connection between mechanical thinking and physical brain
went much further. In Diderot and D'Alembert, clocks are more than a metaphor for brain
(and mind): they provide a precise scientific reductionist project, in a monist perspective. The
philosopher and the harpsichord have the same degree of materiality: the same mechanical
rules govern human thinking and the musical instrument. The logical syllogism works like a
machine and the machine works like a syllogism [Buffat, 1982].
#puremath #psychology #ai #realism #dualism #prooftheory
https://ia802803.us.archive.org/2/items/clocksandturingmachines/Clocks%20and%20Turing%20Machines_djvu.txt