The Mind-Body Problem
Modified: 2023-08-13 (3:20 PM CDST)
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The mind-body problem is a philosophical problem, and as such it has
philosophical solutions.
- Those solutions lead to the adoption of a
point of view about the mind-body problem, which, in turn, leads to a
particular way of dealing with the world.
- Usually, most of us do not
think about our own solutions to the mind-body problem, and,
sometimes, we may use different solutions at different times.
- In the
Middle Ages, the mind-body problem was not even identified as a
problem, and, therefore, the "solution" then was completely
confounded, meaning that mind and body were thoroughly bound up
together in one complex and confusing bundle.
- What is the mind-body problem? Descartes helped to define it when
he noted that if he amputated his foot, he had affected his physical
body, but had not affected his mind.
- He did not offer to sever his
head, but Dennett (1978) has speculated about what might happen
should one's brain be transferred to another body.
- Science fictional
accounts have also explored such transfers.
- Those speculations get to
the heart of the mind-body problem, namely where does reality lie?
- Descartes backed into his famous existence proof, cogito ergo sum, (I think, therefore I am.) while attempting to decide whether the physical world existed at all,
and when he realized that he was thinking he also realized there must
be a thinker. So, the mind-body problem has to do with reality and
with perceptions of reality.
- Most of us would agree that a physical world exists: We can
perceive it, and we can agree as to its manifestations.
- Also, most of
us believe that we think. Part of the problem is that we cannot agree
as to the contents of others' minds like we can agree to the nature
of the physical world.
- Another issue is that we cannot fully know our
own mind.
- That is the problem of introspection, and is the problem
that led to the fall of structuralist accounts of psychology.
- Still
another problem is the issue of animal minds.
- Whereas we have some
hope of knowing part of the contents of another human's mind, we have
no hope of knowing the contents of animal minds because the specific
differences are so great. These are some of the many aspects of the
mind-body problem.
- Descartes' doubts about the reality of the physical world haunt us
still.
- Let's suppose for a moment that the world was created
yesterday, and that everything that you remember is, in fact, not
true. Instead, those memories were placed in your mind at the moment
of creation. How would you know the difference?
- In Phillip K. Dick's story Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, later made into the movie Bladerunner Dick explored such thoughts.
- In the movie, set in the
near future, biotechnology has succeeded in creating stronger and
smarter human beings. But, if they are smarter and stronger, what is
to prevent them from taking over? A four-year life span is the
answer. The replicants, as they are called, are created as adults,
and die after four years of life. To prevent problems in control of
the replicants, the latest models have been given false memories of
childhood as well as a handful of souvenirs of their childhood. Dick
speculates, is that not all we have too?
- In the more recent movie, Total Recall, based on one of Dick's short stories, similar themes
are exploited. The main character thinks that by having his brain
altered, he can enjoy a two-week vacation on Mars. However, such
vacations are merely alterations of memory accompanied by a few
souvenirs. Again, are not our vacations reducible to that? Finally,
consider the horror of amnesia, or loss of memory. Inability to
recall our past, retrograde amnesia, would render us fairly helpless,
as would inability to store new memories, anterograde amnesia. We
depend heavily, whether we realize it or not, on the mental
representations we make of the physical world. The question now turns
to the relationship of the mind and body.
- Again we turn to Descartes. Descartes posited an interactionist
solution to the mind-body problem, meaning that each affected the
other. The effects of that solution have been explored above.
- But,
other solutions exist, and they can be divided into monist or dualist
categories.
- Interactionism is a dualist solution because it includes
both mind and body. Other dualist solutions exist, and they vary
primarily in the relationship of the mind and body.
- Monist solutions
include only mind or body. Idealism posits only the existence of the
mind, materialism only of the body. Idealists are hard to find, but
materialists are not so rare.
- Have you thought about the mind-body problem?
- Probably not in so
many words. Think about it. Think about the things that make you
reach decisions.
- Do you think of yourself as an independent agent in
the world?
- Or, do you think of yourself as a pawn in a gigantic game
of chess, controlled by forces beyond your control? Now that you know
a little bit about the problem, can you identify your solution?
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