Hemholtz

Herman Von Hemholtz represents the fall in my opinion because he was a materialist who was strongly against vitalism, which is the belief that life could not be explained solely through the chemical and physical processes. Hemholtz believed that life could only be explained in terms of the physical and chemical processes. What he believed was that we as humans are nothing more than complex machines. I do think that much of what he studied and much of ourselves is based on how are brain works and how our body functions, but I don’t think we can be understood through only those things. That theory represents the fall because it shows that we are nothing but our bodies. Although Hemholtz did come up with ground-braking theories that have had a huge influence on modern day psychology, I do not think that his philosophy was the best. If we are nothing more than complex machines than is there such a thing as free will, or can we only be identified through our brain? I believe that we are more than what our body is because we are able to experience things distinctly. Hemholtz was a firm believer that through past experience we convert sensation into perception.  If we are all machines than why are identical twins with the same genes different. I think that even if we understand every aspect of how our mind works we still won’t be able to understand each and every person.