[mg39]

Leaving aside the merits of Cartesian philosophy, Descartes was a heartless bastard who infamously nailed the paws of his wife's dog to a table and vivisected the animal without any concern for its pain. In a letter to a friend Descartes wrote: "They [animals] merely went through the external motions which in man were symptomatic of pain, without experiencing any of it's mental sensation."

Accordingly, Descartes decided to open up these "beast machines" to see just how they worked. Apart from dissecting dead animals and attending public vivisections, Descartes enjoyed practising vivisection. Amongst other things, rabbits were utilised by Descartes. The purpose of this was to observe the operations of the heart and the movement of the blood in the arteries.

According to Rupke, Descartes 'Beast Machine' theory provided a twofold advantage. It protected scientists' mechanistic view of both animals and human beings against charges of heresy, and protected the reserved immortality for man, which was the favoured doctrine promoted by Catholicism.

Descartes theory, therefore, entered medical and certain ecclesiastical circles. Two clergymen, Father Nicholas Malebranche and the theologian Antoine Arnauld, emphasised their commitment to Cartesian ideology by practising severe cruelty to animals. Malebranche, who took dualism one step further than Descartes, claiming that such action as the movement of a limb was a direct result of God's intervention, is said to have demonstrated his commitment to automata theory by kicking a pregnant dog, and declaring when reproached: "Don't you know that it has no feelings at all"? Indeed, Nicolas Fontaine, a secretary of prominent Jansenist Fathers eventually reported the equally violent Arnauld, to the monastery Port Royal.

Descartes legacy, though, had beaten him to it. Fontaine reports: "The solitaries
beat their dogs with the utmost indifference, and laughed at people who still
maintained they could feel pain...They nailed the poor animals to boards by four
paws to dissect them while still alive, in order to watch the circulation of the
blood, which was a great subject of discussion." (Fontaine quoted in Rupke,
27:1990)

[Aquinasfan]

According to Rupke, Descartes 'Beast Machine' theory provided a twofold advantage. It protected scientists' mechanistic view of both animals and human beings against charges of heresy, and protected the reserved immortality for man, which was the favoured doctrine promoted by Catholicism.

You never know where you're going to encounter a gratuitous swipe at Catholicism. You can read St. Thomas' account of animal soul here.

Perhaps Rene should have spent more time studying Aquinas.