Phineas Gage Injury

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The Tale of Phineas Gage: Extraordinary or Extra Ordinary? In a most unusual tale, author Sam Kean, writing for The Slate in an online publication titled “Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient,” recaps the life of who’s considered by many to be “the most famous name in neuroscience”. Phineas Gage, a man who lived in the 19th century, encountered an impactful brain injury that would impact the rest of his life, or so they say, in an unconventional way. Much speculation has occurred as a result of his brain injury. However, it appears that although Gage experienced an extraordinary injury his life as a result was nothing out of the ordinary. At the start of Gage’s life there was nothing particularly noteworthy that would stand the …show more content…
Skull reenactments have been made and bone fragments are still being analyzed by scientist determined to make sense out of what appears to be a flaw in modern scientific reasoning and commonly held beliefs on how the brain reacts to certain injuries. Interestingly enough, although the author refers to Gage’s injury as “the last normal day of his life,” and his life afterwards as Gage’s “afterlife”, this seems to be very different from the evidence shown based on what we know about him. After the Gage’s injury he returns back to work, but after being released from his job on the railroad turns to a life of “drifting” and shiftlessness. He is then described by the author as dirty, penniless, and a drunkard. Having suffered such trauma I’d suspect any ordinary man may confront similar …show more content…
While the meanings of these statements are quite subjective, they do demonstrate the apparent ‘lack’ of historical knowledge we have on Phineas Gage as an individual and character. In addition, the author reveals that a source states in his book titled “Descartes’ Error,” Gage was a man that “women couldn’t stand” to be around. Figuratively speaking, this could be based on the fact that Gage was poor, drunk, and relatively deformed. On the other hand, it could be because of major impacts to his frontal lobe that affected his ability to reason and be around people in a productive way. There is really not enough evidence or data to determine the causes of Gage’s behavior, nor determine what really occurred characteristically as a result of his
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