How should the Mind/Body Problem be solved?
Introduction
The mind and body problem has been around for many years and since then many solutions to the problem have been offered, yet none have been widely accepted. The mind and body seem to be two very different substances, however, the question poses. How do they interact? How can a mind effect the body if it’s a different entity and how can the body effect the mind? Although this problem may appear simple, it is yet to have a satisfactory solution in spite of the amount of time and thought dedicated to this problem. The question of this problem is ‘what is the mind and what link does it have with the body?’ how do we know which solution is right? This paper will examine the dualism view …show more content…
Consciousness is the most noticeable feature of human mental lives. As William James put it, “The first and foremost concrete fact which every one will affirm to belong to his inner experience is the fact that consciousness of some sort goes on” (James 1910: 71). The dualistic approach to mind embraces several quite different theories, but they are all agreed that the essential nature of conscious intelligence resides in something nonphysical, in something beyond the human comprehension, beyond the scope of sciences like physics, neurophysiology, and computer science. The first view by dualist is substance dualism, this view argues that the mind and body are composed of different substances. Substance dualists fall into several areas depending upon how they think mind and body are related. Property dualists argue that mental states are complex qualities of brain states. Interactionists believe that minds and bodies causally affect one another. Epiphenomenalists offer a compromise theory, asserting that bodily events can have mental events as effects while denying that the reverse is true. Dualism has a very extensive field of explanations to the mind body problem, all different versions of the same basic view, just applied more flexible which the other views do not offer. This is why the theory of …show more content…
Dualism faces difficult problems of definition of the basic components – immaterial entities which to this day has still not been solved. Descartes expands on the notion of extension in the Fifth Meditation saying, "I enumerate the thing 's various parts. I ascribe to these parts certain sizes, shapes, positions, and movements from place to place; to these movements I ascribe various durations" (1980, p. 85). Conversely, the body is also able to influence the soul. Light reflected from the body of an animal and entering through our two eyes. It is clear from this statement by Descartes, that he potentially believed a dualistic view of interactionism. This would mean that he sometimes believed that mental events can cause bodily events and thus, bodily events can sometimes cause mental events, showing that the mind and body are linked in someway. This ultimately contradicts the theory of dualism which is the major fault in his
Introduction
The mind and body problem has been around for many years and since then many solutions to the problem have been offered, yet none have been widely accepted. The mind and body seem to be two very different substances, however, the question poses. How do they interact? How can a mind effect the body if it’s a different entity and how can the body effect the mind? Although this problem may appear simple, it is yet to have a satisfactory solution in spite of the amount of time and thought dedicated to this problem. The question of this problem is ‘what is the mind and what link does it have with the body?’ how do we know which solution is right? This paper will examine the dualism view …show more content…
Consciousness is the most noticeable feature of human mental lives. As William James put it, “The first and foremost concrete fact which every one will affirm to belong to his inner experience is the fact that consciousness of some sort goes on” (James 1910: 71). The dualistic approach to mind embraces several quite different theories, but they are all agreed that the essential nature of conscious intelligence resides in something nonphysical, in something beyond the human comprehension, beyond the scope of sciences like physics, neurophysiology, and computer science. The first view by dualist is substance dualism, this view argues that the mind and body are composed of different substances. Substance dualists fall into several areas depending upon how they think mind and body are related. Property dualists argue that mental states are complex qualities of brain states. Interactionists believe that minds and bodies causally affect one another. Epiphenomenalists offer a compromise theory, asserting that bodily events can have mental events as effects while denying that the reverse is true. Dualism has a very extensive field of explanations to the mind body problem, all different versions of the same basic view, just applied more flexible which the other views do not offer. This is why the theory of …show more content…
Dualism faces difficult problems of definition of the basic components – immaterial entities which to this day has still not been solved. Descartes expands on the notion of extension in the Fifth Meditation saying, "I enumerate the thing 's various parts. I ascribe to these parts certain sizes, shapes, positions, and movements from place to place; to these movements I ascribe various durations" (1980, p. 85). Conversely, the body is also able to influence the soul. Light reflected from the body of an animal and entering through our two eyes. It is clear from this statement by Descartes, that he potentially believed a dualistic view of interactionism. This would mean that he sometimes believed that mental events can cause bodily events and thus, bodily events can sometimes cause mental events, showing that the mind and body are linked in someway. This ultimately contradicts the theory of dualism which is the major fault in his