mental causation?

Question

the mental causation problem, one that has been around for a while asks how can a mental activity cause a physical activity? many philosophers are discontent with a physicalistic solution because mental life is not reducible into physicalistic terms and concepts.
however arent the mental processes that bring about action physical themselves (electrical impulses, neurotransmitters)? or does the problem arise from the step before these mental processes begin? or is it the reasons, decisions, and causes that cannot be given physical attributes to?

Answer 1

Hey, what a great question. I certainly cannot give you the complete picture of mental causation, since no one even knows the answer...
But I can tell you with confidence about some things.

If I were you, I wouldn't put too much faith in getting explanation for consciousness from quantum physics

As much as it sounds astounding and awesome accounting mysterious quantum mechanics into picture, it is purely speculative, conjectural and these days, even pseudoscientific. Quantum physics has been hijacked, manipulated, and distorted by postmodernists, religious folks, new age gurus, mystics that whenever unqualified person talks about quantum physics, you ought to be extremely skeptical and doubtful. Even when the person is qualified and knowledgeable in physics, at this point in time, making connection between consciousness and quantum physics is pure speculation.

The reason why I think quantum physics alone cannot explain the nature of consciousness is because quantum physics is statistical from top to bottom. This isn't the case for our abstract ideas. Our ideas, at least logic and mathematics are certain. There is a fundamental mismatch here.

A person may say that the neuron (100 trillion) in our brain effectively average out the randomness of single quantum particles. But even then, one cannot deny that quantum explanation is fundamentally contingent, while logic and mathematics are fundamentally certain.

Also if consciousness is statistical, is it possible to create feeling of pain from entire population of china acting out as each neuron causing pain? No.
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I think that there is no easy way out for mental causation problem. I think we have to reject previously conceived notion of both Cartesian dualism and reductive physicalism.
I used to be physicalist, but rejecting that mental events are not really mental events does not solve the fundamental question of "how does physics cause these seemingly unphysical things?"

I would really like to see a plausible theory to this problem we have. I see that you are interested in biology and chemistry, so I presume that you have faith in science as I do. But I want you to keep in mind that we should keep all explanations open for debate.

I am sorry that I couldn't solve the mental causation problem.. But if I did, I wouldn't be telling it to you casually right now, would I? :D

Answer 2

You are smarter than me in this area but I will try to answer from my perspective. I am studying Information Systems and have been daydreaming a lot about our own programming...

When we are born our neurons fire randomly. We kick burp fart etc...Obviously there has to be a pre-programmed system there in our brain (similar to the computer BIOS, you can breathe, blink, you have arms and legs etc). We also have to have a system there that connects our random movements and the outcome. We eventually record these outcomes in our memory, and we begin to make decisions..conscious and unconscious...(move your bowels, sleep, pick up that cup, cry)

Being a mother this fascinates me. From all of that randomness and infant somehow figures out the difference between a positive reaction/outcome and a negative one. There is the obvious physical pain as a negative outcome, but how does he learn to distinguish to a smile or a frown so early? How does a 1 month old infant sense a stressful situation when he can barely see, when there are no environmental triggers such as hearing people argue...

In programming at its simplest we have the input, process, output.

Our thoughts are in some sense just responses to our environment, and we process this based on our internal "knowledge base" of previous outcomes. We then respond with the appropriate output, (unless of course we are locked in, catatonic or something of the sort).

As humans we can CHOOSE our output response, but only based on what we know (which would explain the emotional turmoil of the terrible twos). This sucks for you if you were raised by serial killers, or if you were a feral child, because even if you make the best choices you possibly can your knowledge base is going to be limited or corrupt.

It is very very possible to give physical attributes to the process. There is an open source projectt that is attempting to. Here is the link to a section relevant to your question:
http://mind.sourceforge.net/volition.html

I would have to agree however with the stubborn philosophers. After all we are forgetting one thing...WHO or WHAT is running the program?? I am responding based on my own knowledge and observations. I think we are all connected on some level...sort of like Jungs collective unconscious theory...but I think that there is some purpose we serve collectively as a species that we just do not understand yet.

Answer 3

I'll try and translate your question because I do not understand it. -

"How can a mental activity arise into physical activity?
Philosophers are not content with material solutions because our mental state can't be reduced into material terms and concepts?But does'nt the mind have physical properties etc ..then you mention some random neurological terms?"

Neurologists are qualified tradesmen they know all the wiring,electrics,construction of our minds,how to fix it [the neurosurgeon] what it runs on, but who ultimately operates it? I suppose we do,in a mechanical view,we are the only agents.

Non western-cultures are less mechanical,the africans for example believe that everything results, and only results from the intentions of wilful agents.

They also believe that some "events/actions" are the results of "fighting" agents,or that some events/actions are an unintended side effects of the actions of agents. Most African tribes have a saying roughly like "Where elephants walk the grass is crushed". "Elephants" then stands for wilful agents, crushed grass being the unintended effect of their actions.

Something unintentionally or intentionally acts on us.

At any rate I don't see our nature as a problem to be solved - or a need for a theory to this "problem".

But I am not a left brain rationalist.

Answer 4

Perhaps the clearest evidence gathered vis a vis human biofield/soulfield intentionality affecting atoms is presented in http://www.tiller.org http://www.quantumbrain.org http://www.divinecosmos.com http://www.noetic.org http://www.integralscience.org http://www.heartmath.org and the like.

Dr. Elizabeth Mayer, "Extraordinary Knowing," presents a similar model to Dr. Tiller's in his "Psychoenergetic Science," which she co-developed with Dr. Robert Jahn of Princeton's PEAR program.

"The Field," Lynne McTaggart, and "Mindful Universe," Henry P. Stapp, also give theoretics.

Your notion that there is a "step" before "mental processes" is worth noting. Specifically, what is termed feedforward and whiteheadian process is a part of what Ervin Laszlo denotes as "akashic field," Rupert Sheldrake as "morphic field," etc.

What stumped Kant vis a vis Emanuel Swedenborg's accurate far-seeing of an event is more now more understood by science per psi and quantum level schema and confirming experimentation.

This is an area of science which is logically especially important to a Wittgensteinian view of philosophy as understanding and incorporating scientific knowledge in the human spirit.

What is indeed the case is soulfield coherence, i.e., qua out-of-body experience, remote viewing, and the like, in which psi and psyche are able to journey to specific areas and accurately retrieve specific information (e.g., in "Penetration," Ingo Swann, re Police Chief Pat Price at SRI).

A Kant, in beta wave outer waking 5-sense data stream consciousness, simply makes a fundamental category error when attempting to evaluate e.g. high gamma wave mentation. State-specific awareness is significantly different, as determined by eeg and types of mentation, etc.

Thus, a rare and very coherent soulfield's mentation operates above and beyond outer waking consciousness, beta wave state-specificity. Accounts such as in Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi," "Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton, "The Masters and Their Retreats," Mark Prophet, are quite worthwhile, particularly if one's own soulfield capability resonates and learns to do likewise, even in small degree.

kind regards,

j.

Answer 5

Thanks for asking this question j153e answer is very interesting to me.
I like to wounder about such things myself however as I am not formally educated I shall not attempt to give an answer.

Answer 6

Something is the life force, it can be a super process of the brains, or something like a farm, where the plants are grown like your brains.