Man a Machine

by Julien Offray de La Mettrie

"Man a Machine" by Julien Offray de La Mettrie is a work of materialist philosophy first published in 1747. Extending Descartes' view of animals as automatons, La Mettrie argues that humans are also machines. He rejects the existence of a soul separate from matter, demonstrating how physical conditions—sleep, nutrition, drugs—directly affect what we call the mind. This controversial work denies dualism and proposes that body and soul are inseparably one.