Developing the themes of Descartes' Error and The Feeling of What Happens, Damasio investigates the relationship between the brain/mind and the emotions, arguing that the latter have not only evolved to aid survival and regulate internal processes, but have also motivated and shaped cultural achievement. He sees in Spinoza a forerunner of the increasingly influential school of thought which rejects the cognitive isolation of the brain - for which Descartes, by contrast, can be held in no small degree to be responsible - and promotes a deep integration of affect, consciousness and memory.