"The consciousness of brutes would appear to be related to the mechanism of their body simply as a collateral product of its working, and to be as completely without any power of modifying that working as the steam-whistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive engine is without influence upon its machinery."
— Huxley, Thomas H. (1825-1895)
Date
1874
Metaphor
"The consciousness of brutes would appear to be related to the mechanism of their body simply as a collateral product of its working, and to be as completely without any power of modifying that working as the steam-whistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive engine is without influence upon its machinery."
Metaphor in Context
The consciousness of brutes would appear to be related to the mechanism of their body simply as a collateral product of its working, and to be as completely without any power of modifying that working as the steam-whistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive engine is without influence upon its machinery. Their volition, if they have any, is an emotion indicative of physical changes, not a cause of such changes.
Categories
Provenance
Reading Gary Greenberg's review essay "A Mind of its Own: Resisting the Tyranny of the Brain" in Harper's Magazine (June 2008): p. 83.
Citation
Originally published in Nature 10 (1874): 362-66. The essay also appears in Huxley's Collected Essays: pp. 199-250. Text available from "The Huxley File" <http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE1/AnAuto.html>.
Date of Entry
05/19/2008
Date of Review
05/19/2008
