Dualism.....Are the mind and the brain one and the same object or are they seperate entities? There is no question that we have a brain in our head and we use this organ to perform all bodily movements and to regulate or central nervous system.
Are thoughts and our "beliefs and desires" a process of the brain or the mind? Do we really possess minds. Be careful not to assume "Of couse we do" because of the terminology we use. Just because we talk about minds and use terminology to describe such does not deduce that what we call Minds is seperate from our Brain. Perhaps the mind is just another way to describe a certain function of the brain? Is there really a Mental and a Physical? Or is everything Physical?
2007-07-12 05:00:17 · 14 answers · asked by Future 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
We do not know that we have minds, and from what we DO know about the science of brain and consciousness...it is more likely that we do not have minds. Dualism is a non-nonsensical proposition that has absolutely no scientific basis. It is a complete anachronism that is not taken seriously by most reasonable people. Based on the best current available evidence: the "mind" is just, as you say, another physical process in the brain, but a very cool one!
Thoughts are internally perceived electrochemical processes that our "mind" or consciousness' proprioceptive faculty feeds back into the system. Beliefs and desires are a little different, as they are attitudes which are most likely instantiated by patters of cortical wiring. Neurons which "fire together, wire together", and the electricity of mind flows throughout these networks. A belief is a physically wired (but alterable) pattern of neuronal connections.
Mind is an illusion created by this immensely complex recursive feedback loop of neuronal connections in the physical brain. The appearance of mind is generated by electro-chemical charges in the brain interacting at relatively high speeds. Necessary components include sensory input, real-time memory allotment, and perhaps most importantly of all: complex pattern!
Mind (and consciousness) IS pattern. It is the ability of matter to self-organize in efficiency-increasing information processing. Mind is no single physical thing, but rather the action of an ever-shifting pattern, hence mind can only be said to exist through time.
Mind is made up of nothing more than physical cells in the brain, and the energy that lights them up. Intellect, imagination, dreams, art, emotion, love, anything you can think of (pun intended) is one or another pattern of matter and energy popping off inside that bone-encased squishy melon you've got up there. Everything is physical.
If you are interested in reading more on mind and consciousness check out "I Am a Strange Loop" by Douglas Hofstadter, "Consciousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett, or "How the Mind Works" by Steven Pinker, or contact me through email, I'd be glad to explain more. This is one of my favorite topics.
~Nunayer Beezwax
2007-07-12 05:54:13 · answer #1 · answered by Nunayer Beezwax 4 · 3⤊ 4⤋
"Human life is an action that takes place in three worlds; spiritual, intellectual, physical. Spiritual is supreme." - MMB The following is quoted from a small book "Words of Wisdom and Power" by Murdo MacDonald-Bayne: Mind and Brain interpenetrate each other, the mind is positive while the brain is negative. Mind and brain react to each other, the one is indispensable to the other on this plane of existence. Impulses in the brain cells create action in the body. Life is continuous - man is dependent on life. Life is intelligence, mind in action, which operates upon the brain cells, and the brain cells in turn act upon the body. Cells vibrate either rapidly or slowly according to the ideas ...
2016-04-01 00:14:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The mind bears the same relationship to the body's op system as the brain bears to the body functions. As the op system communicates the bodily requirements to the brain, the mind evaulates and advises the brain. One is very physical while the other is very mental.
2007-07-12 05:14:28 · answer #3 · answered by Sophist 7 · 4⤊ 2⤋
by my own direct experience, I only know for certain I have mind.
I have been told that I have a brain, but I have never seen or experienced it. I have been told a lot about it, assured we all have one, and I believe this, but really, empirically, it does not exist for me.
and who is it that claims me or mine?
my body, my thoughts, my life ... there is a dualistic seperation.
this me, and that which is not me.
this too is evident.
all of these claims seem to be made by mind.
they are all thoughts. so this mind is what I call me, that which owns the body, etc.
I experience thoughts seemingly all the time. And upon examination, I find that there is no such thing as mind, there is only these thought. mind is composed of thought only.
there is no forest without trees,
no mind without thoughts.
no mind, no self.
no self, no seperation.
no seperation, no relationship, no duality.
no owner of the body, no body.
what remains? can you find it?
2007-07-12 07:46:04 · answer #4 · answered by joju 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The question is simpler than most people make it seem.
If mind was identical to brain, then it would be impossible to have one without the other. And while there isn't a lot of evidence to suggest the presence of minds without brains, there is certainly no lack of demonstrable brains without minds. I know of no one who suggests that dead brains still have minds, and there are plenty of examples of even mindless living brains.
Even if, as you suggest, a mind is a FUNCTION of the brain, that does not make it IDENTICAL to the brain. If you don't want to call the product of a functioning brain a 'mind', what DO you want to call it, eh?
2007-07-12 07:29:02 · answer #5 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
We don't all have brains and/or minds. Not even all humans have a mind. The ones born without brains either become elected officials or entertainers. If the questions were, "We all know that we have nipples...", then my answer perhaps would have been different.
2007-07-12 05:19:31 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Robert Frost, whom I consider a generally wise man:
"No one can tell how glad I am to see on any page, the least display of mind."
Not to suggest Frost was a [great] philosopher, but he appears to recognize the fine distinction between the existence of, and the display of, mind on the printed page.
The only practical evidence we have that mind exists involves displays.
All we humans can do is look around us, observe, and measure what we see displayed in an attempt to decide whether it represents 'mind', or doesn't.
2007-07-12 05:10:07 · answer #7 · answered by Jack P 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
I totally agree, but I think there are actually 3 parts... Brain, Mind and Spirit.
The brain is a network of patterns and chemicals and the ability to see and hear, but usually without meaning. We blink, breathe, and do habitual things (like smoke, eat, go to the bathroom) to satisfy the chemicals and the patterns.
The mind assigns meaning. You can see something, but whether it is good or bad is decided in your mind. The mind is where beliefs and desires originate. This makes sense to me because I desire to be thin in my mind, but my brain has established patterns of eating bad foods to regulate chemicals.
The duality of "mind" and "brain" is why I can want something, but also continue a pattern of something contrary.
The third part is spiritual. Conscience, I believe, exists here. Thoughts that come from nowhere exist here. Being a Christian, I believe this is one way that God can influence me, and one way he can challenge my beliefs or my desires. I might desire to be thin, and might consider anorexia, when a fleeting thought of "is that really the right way?" enters my mind. It's sometimes hard to discern if those fleeting thoughts are from myself or from God.
Obviously, not everyone believes in that third part, which is okay with me (I just wanted to share my personal thoughts) but I definitely agree with you on the Mind and Brain distinction :)
2007-07-12 05:12:55 · answer #8 · answered by HP Wombat 7 · 2⤊ 4⤋
The brain is an electromagnetic generator. Our thoughts , our Minds, are stored in the electromagnetic field outside our bodies. The scientists who are studying this phenomenon call it the "Holographic Universe". The Ancients have called it many things, from "soul" to "aura" and even "halo".
2007-07-12 08:51:14 · answer #9 · answered by phil8656 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
The mind is what we use to perceive things with our thoughts, and from which our personality comes from.
I believe it comes from the brain, because a person with two heads is actually two people, with two minds, and one body.
2007-07-12 07:06:35 · answer #10 · answered by Sprinkle 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋