The Eastern heart and Galen's ventricle: a historical review of the purpose of the brain.

The seat of consciousness has not always been thought to reside in the brain. Its "source" is as varied as the cultures of those who have sought it. At present, although most may agree that the central nervous system is held to be the root of individualism in much of Western philosophy, this has not always been the case, and this viewpoint is certainly not unanimously accepted across all cultures today.