Why are hearts commonly seen as the main organ of life when arguably the brain is where personhood and self-consciousness is formed?
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As has been said in other comments, its a historical misunderstanding about how the body works. Personally I blame Aristotle. I can see how this would be the case, and even with modern medicine it kind of holds true. Example being you can be, in contemporary terms, brain dead or in a coma, but the heart keeps on beating. Now the brain may be able to keep basic functions going without ‘consciousness’, (I’m not a neurosurgeon so I don’t know about the details and efficacy) but unless there is something locked in a bunker or lab I don’t know about the heart can survive without a brain but not vice versa. It is at heart, pun intended, a simple pump driven by electrical stimulus as far as I remember. Think about Miracle Mike the chicken, which ok , wasn’t quite brainless/brainstemless . Or that cockroaches can live without there heads. I’m not entirely sure they are comparable etc, but its something to think about. Please someone correct me if I am wrong and just perpetuating my memory of stuff based of incorrect facts.
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