The problem of other minds, one-way causation, non-interaction and difference in qualities of experience has meant that the mind-body problem has yet to find a single theory solution. While scholars such as Smart (1959), Foster (1991), and Graham (1998) argue that the principles of parsimony and simplicity “decide overwhelmingly in favour of the [identity] theory” (Smart, 1959, p. 156), others have taken a different approach leading to ‘mind-body pessimism’, or the idea that philosophy and human understanding is limited in its ability to fully understand how mental and physical phenomena relate (McGinn, 1989; Snowdon, 2015).
On the other hand, the inability to come up with a single solution highlights that there may be an inadequacy to present …show more content…
Despite countering the idea that mind and body are two distinct substances with its theory of no deliberate mind and no deliberate self (Chan, 1963), Buddhism does not sit neatly with material monism. The belief in a ‘stream of consciousness’, life force (jivita) and heat (usman) reinforce the view that neither the physical nor the mental can be simply reduced to one another, nor can they be mutually separate (Lin, 2013). It would be difficult to state that the mind and body are different or the same as this fails to account for both cases of mind-less bodies and body-less minds, as well as concepts that both separate and link the two …show more content…
For one, a brief summary of some of the theories shows that it is important to consider factors that need further consideration before the mind-body problem can be discussed. Consciousness and its relation to the mind and the body, for example, needs further clarification as well as the link between physical matter and motion. Without completely understanding the underlying principles of the problem, the mind-body dilemma will continue to remain
On the other hand, the inability to come up with a single solution highlights that there may be an inadequacy to present …show more content…
Despite countering the idea that mind and body are two distinct substances with its theory of no deliberate mind and no deliberate self (Chan, 1963), Buddhism does not sit neatly with material monism. The belief in a ‘stream of consciousness’, life force (jivita) and heat (usman) reinforce the view that neither the physical nor the mental can be simply reduced to one another, nor can they be mutually separate (Lin, 2013). It would be difficult to state that the mind and body are different or the same as this fails to account for both cases of mind-less bodies and body-less minds, as well as concepts that both separate and link the two …show more content…
For one, a brief summary of some of the theories shows that it is important to consider factors that need further consideration before the mind-body problem can be discussed. Consciousness and its relation to the mind and the body, for example, needs further clarification as well as the link between physical matter and motion. Without completely understanding the underlying principles of the problem, the mind-body dilemma will continue to remain