What is the difference between a human being's physical brain, and his mind?

Question

(or, if you prefer, soul, or consciousness)? Is there a difference?

Answer 1

There is evidence of consious experience without (measurable) physiological activity. (1) There is also Walter Freeman's work that shows the impossibility of a correspondence map between brain states and experiences. (2) Therefore, we are far from knowing whether there is a definite relationship between mind and brain in all cases. Some modern research suggest that the brain is more of a receiver (like a television) for consciousness. (3)

Answer 2

It's not all chemicals. Your brain is a shifting mass of interconnected neurons. Imagine a computer chip designed by Salvadore Dali. I could write a very long answer on how it actually works... but I won't. Despite the maddening small-scale complexity it is organized into distinct chunks. You have several different pleasure centers devoted to different aspects of happiness. When you experience something that will make you happy neurotransmitters will be dumped into these areas. Many drugs increase the activity level here, often quite directly. This storm of activity is important for laying down the pathways so you do it again. TLDR version: yes, your thoughts influence chemical levels and vice versa.

Answer 3

The brain is the physical vessel. The mind is the consciousness that is contained within. Much the same way that a computer has a hard-drive, the softward is what is contained therein.

Answer 4

In the technical language belonging to philosophy of mind, mental states supervene upon brain states; the former are dependent upon the latter. Some would also say that you can't have mental states without having brain states.

Answer 5

The brain is the mind's prison.

Answer 6

The brain is what you are.

The mind is who you are.

Answer 7

You can touch or feel a brain. You can't actually feel a mind.
One is physical the other is mental.