Thomas Willis: The faculties and his two cognitive frameworks

Thomas Willis’ 1664 study The anatomy of the brain is widely regarded as one of the first clinical studies of the brain. In The anatomy, Thomas Willis explicitly connected the cognitive faculties and the nerves. Willis’ later, 1672 work, The two discourses concerning the soul of brutes, severely undermined the materialism of Willis’ first study: he affirmed dualism and cognitive immateriality; changed the anatomical locations of cognition; and reasserted a division between the rational and sensitive souls. His exact motive to return to orthodoxy is unclear, but contemporary scholarship of Willis has compounded the confusion with by relying predominantly on The soul of brutes instead of The anatomy. We trace Willis’ career and examine his methodological practices, which help explain the historical practices and pressures. A closer examination of Willis’ Anatomy of the brain reveals a much more materialistic account of the brain, the faculties, and nervous system. In this article, we present our own analysis of Willis’ concept of rationality in the Anatomy and explain its importance for nervous physiology and understanding the analytic techniques for first defining faculty localizations. We then explain the role of the imagination and the immortal soul in the rearticulated anatomical concepts from The soul of brutes.