In search of the brain of Descartes

摘要

I am a brain, Watson,' declared Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, 'the rest of me is a mere appendix.' Holmes's cephalocentrism (and his narcissism) is no secret; he was not shy about promoting his cerebral credentials and comparing them favourably with his more pedestrian companion. It doesn’t take a detective to work that out. But our story, of brains and fame, starts not with double-crossing aristocrats but with Descartes.