In his “Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain” Antonio R. Damasio writes about Phineas Gage. He was penetrated through the skull by a steel beam during an accident in the railroad industry where he worked as a foreman in the 1800’s. He survived the incident, but “lost his mind,” becoming “indolent,” “slovenly,” and “lazy,” whereas before he had been very responsible, industrious, and hard-working. Doctors attempted to rehabilitate him but were unsuccessful as Gage became itinerant, wandering from place to place unable to hold a job including, for a time, becoming nothing more than a circus attraction.
Damasio uses Gage to exemplify the importance of emotions in guiding our motivational and logical pathways as it was primarily the part of the brain that governs emotions that was impacted by Gage’s accident, despite his physical survival. Damasio strongly defends his thesis of the overriding importance of emotional insight through any number of other similar incidents.
In her “The Drama of the Gifted Child,” Alice Miller cites Damasio’s work in support of her own conclusions echoing Damasio’s own.
I AM very happy that he was found again and that Damasio wrote of his life in this book.
While most photographs of Gage online depict him after his gruesome injury, because this is a creative writing blog, I have decided to also share this one, a worthwhile doppelganger. Why? I do not “know,” but it is still true. And because, well, I FEEL like it.
Thank you, Antonio, and, Alice, for leading me in this direction because THIS is how I found Phineas. And you can, too.
Observations from the Brink 