The mind body problem is “the system of ancient questions about the nature of the mental and its relations to the bodily (Bunge 1980).” It is the question about how one’s mind can at all work with one’s body and the relationship that the two have with each other. How does one’s mind control one’s body? What are the implications of differing beliefs on this point? Does this relationship reframe an idea of freewill or determinism? All of these interesting questions can be raised when this question is asked. Substance dualism makes the most sense when presented with the all of the options and coming from a place of faith when considering the mind body problem, because it seems clear that there is something both physical and nonphysical about one’s
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“the thesis that everything is physical, or as contemporary philosophers sometimes put it, that everything supervenes on the physical (Stoljar, 2015).” Supporters of this argument are those like Sam Harris, who is entrenched in the camp of physicalism that he rules our free will as a possibility, because biological stasis is such a large determining factor in the decisions that people make in their day to day lives. To prove this point in a blog post, Harris tells the story of criminals that force a woman to give them $15,000 dollars, tie children to their beds, and beat a family’s father head in with a baseball bat. Sam concludes the story by saying that “Of course, if we learned that both these men had been suffering from brain tumors that explained their violent behavior, our moral intuitions would shift dramatically (Harris, 2017).” Sam has a brilliant point here, upon hearing that these criminal’s actions were largely caused by a serious brain injury does indeed frame the story differently and forces the question of if either of the men had free will when determining their actions. It would seem that they likely did not have much say in their actions that day. Another argument that is given for physicalism is farther back in history, but a famous case none the less. Phineas Gage is the famous railroad worker who one a hot September day, had a pipe that launched through his head, dislodging a part of his brain. While he was permanently left blind in his left eye, Gage did not suffer any other physical problems, despite him losing a portion of his brain. However, it was observed by the doctor who treated him, John Harlow that after the event he was ““no longer Gage,” Harlow wrote. The balance between his “intellectual faculties and animal propensities” seemed gone. He could not stick to plans, uttered “the grossest profanity” and showed “little deference for his fellows” (Twomey, 2010).” This would
“the thesis that everything is physical, or as contemporary philosophers sometimes put it, that everything supervenes on the physical (Stoljar, 2015).” Supporters of this argument are those like Sam Harris, who is entrenched in the camp of physicalism that he rules our free will as a possibility, because biological stasis is such a large determining factor in the decisions that people make in their day to day lives. To prove this point in a blog post, Harris tells the story of criminals that force a woman to give them $15,000 dollars, tie children to their beds, and beat a family’s father head in with a baseball bat. Sam concludes the story by saying that “Of course, if we learned that both these men had been suffering from brain tumors that explained their violent behavior, our moral intuitions would shift dramatically (Harris, 2017).” Sam has a brilliant point here, upon hearing that these criminal’s actions were largely caused by a serious brain injury does indeed frame the story differently and forces the question of if either of the men had free will when determining their actions. It would seem that they likely did not have much say in their actions that day. Another argument that is given for physicalism is farther back in history, but a famous case none the less. Phineas Gage is the famous railroad worker who one a hot September day, had a pipe that launched through his head, dislodging a part of his brain. While he was permanently left blind in his left eye, Gage did not suffer any other physical problems, despite him losing a portion of his brain. However, it was observed by the doctor who treated him, John Harlow that after the event he was ““no longer Gage,” Harlow wrote. The balance between his “intellectual faculties and animal propensities” seemed gone. He could not stick to plans, uttered “the grossest profanity” and showed “little deference for his fellows” (Twomey, 2010).” This would