I heard of the said
entity from a
psychology class... we were discussing
Descartes and the "
Cartesian Theatre"
concept. The homunculus was explained as an audience member (well, actually,
the audience member,
proof that your
life is
boring as
hell). The
play going on would be whatever the
senses gather from the
outside world. Thus, this
symbolism is the
metaphor for the
projection of what the
body senses onto the
mind; very much the
Freudian Ego.
But then, if we say this is an accurate representation of the relationship between
mind and
body, we must account for the homunculus'
senses and the homunculus'
mind, and thus we have
another Cartesian Theatre within the homunculus,
et cetera ad infinitum. Although this creates a significant problem in the
logic of the
concept, a more
neurologically-
informed
person will know that
information from the
senses does not collect in one central area to be processed; the
human brain (or for that matter, any
organic brain) is a haphazard assemblage of
neurons, like a monstrously huge and intimidating knot. An accurate equivalent of this would be the worst
spaghetti code known to mankind. Thus, not only does this
concept seem
logically
impossible to an inhabitant of the
Eighteenth Century, but also
neurologically
impossible to the
modern person.