The Description of the Human Body The Description of the Human Body The Description of the Human Body () is an unfinished treatise written in 1647 by René Descartes (1596-1650). Descartes felt knowing oneself was particularly useful. This for him included medical knowledge. He hoped to cure and prevent disease, even to slow down aging. René Descartes believed the soul caused conscious thought. The body caused automatic functions like the beating of the heart and digestion he felt. The body was necessary for voluntary movement as well as the will. However, he believed the power to move the body was wrongly imagined to come from the
Catholic theology of the body communicate with him. The human body is the lower element of the human person. Through the body, man experiences his temporal existence. But Gregory also admired human beauty and the bodily abilities to dream, sleep and memorize. The body can be both a friend and enemy of a person, according to Gregory. The final goal is a unity of the soul with God, which is possible with Grace and the assistance of the Holy Spirit according to Gregory. Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) was a bishop who wrote, among others, about the creation of the human body. Unlike Irenaeus, Gregory states,