The Mind And Body Problem - 1046 Words

Nishtha Patel December 13, 2014 PHILO 1100-091 The Mind and Body Problem The issue of the origins of consciousness has been a problem that has philosophers and scientists alike, puzzled for years. Is it a matter of science? Can it be explained through neurobiological processes or is it just something that simply cannot be reduced to words? Rene Descartes had struggled to explain this problem through his idea of substance dualism. This idea states that the mind and body are of two separate worlds, the physical world and the mental world. He then goes on by describing himself as a â€Å"thinking thing† and questions the existence with the mind and body thus bringing the questions of the material and the immaterial. From this sprouts the mind-body problem, the connection between mental phenomena and the physical world on which the mind depends. In this philosophical essay, I will question whether the mind and body coexist or if they are two separate entities that make us who we are. One of the first arguments made in Cartesian Dualism is the argument of doubt. Descartes starts to doubt the perception of his body, but handedly cannot conceive the possibility that he is without a mind. This is because he of the very act of doubting that he is a thinking thing, there has to be something that is doing the doubting as. He continues to make the argument by saying as followed: I am certain that I am a thinking thing I am not certain that I am a physical thing Therefore, I am not aShow MoreRelatedIs The Mind Body Problem?1219 Words   |  5 Pagesworld around us, all of which have had their own single beliefs. One of their main issues faced in philosophy is the mind-body problem, and philosophers are still trying to solve this predicament to this day. The mind-brain problem is trying better to understand whether a person’s mental processes are the same as their physical processes. As of today, philosophy has broken the problem into two fundamental parts that has been split down into separate subparts. Personally, I find it easier to believeRead MoreThe Mind And Body Problem1443 Words   |  6 Pagesbrain. Body: It is reasonable to think that the patient has the usual range of mental states because she is behaviourally indistinguishable from a normal human. Behaviours make mental states more evidentially obvious than knowing the brain state of a patient or if they have a Cartesian soul or not. Doctor 4 provides the argument that since the patient is behaviourally indistinguishable from a normal human, she has the usual range of mental states. Gilbert Ryle’s view on the mind and body problem stemsRead MoreThe Mind And Body Problem1412 Words   |  6 PagesThe mind and body problem studies the relationship between the mind and the body, particularly the consciousness and the brain. The problem is traced to Descartes, who questioned how the immaterial mind could affect the material body. In his view, the mind is a thinking thing while the body is an extended thing, where the mind and the body are two separate substances, and held that there are two way causal reactions between the two. The problem arises when we question how an immaterial object affectRead MoreThe Mind And Body Problem1844 Words   |  8 PagesWhen considering this question, the essay will discuss what the mind and body problem is and also who brought the mind and body problem to light. This will be done by looking at various philosophers’ beliefs and how the debate of this problem has changed over time, due to psychologists coming to light in the modern world. This essay will also cover three main areas of belief, these being dualism which states the mind and the body (brain) work separately from one another, materialism that states thatRead MorePsychology : Mind Body Problem898 Words   |  4 PagesTopic 1 Mind body problem tries to explain the states of the minds, occurrence of events, and action of processes. For instance, thinking is related to other processes and events of the mind. The fact that the mind is not physical in nature and the body is physical attests to this explanation. Mind body problem relate to some of the scientific concepts in different kind of ways. The relationship between the mind body problem and the concepts of neurophysiology, psychophysics and theory of evolutionRead MoreDualism And The Mind Body Problem Essay1223 Words   |  5 PagesDualism and the Mind-Body Problem The mind is perhaps the most fascinating part of the human body due to its complexity and ability to rationalize. In essence, the mind-body problem studies the relation of the mind to the body, and states that each human being seems to embody two unique and somewhat contradictory natures. Each human contains both a nature of matter and physicality, just like any other object that contains atoms in the universe. However, mankind also is constituted of something beyondRead MoreThe Mind Body Problem Arises Essay1034 Words   |  5 PagesThesis: The mind-body problem arises because of the lack of evidence when looking for a specific explanation of the interaction of mental and physical states, and the origin and even existence of them. Summary: The problem of the soul continues as Descartes suggested that the human is composed of two completely different substances; a physical body which Descartes compares with a machine, and a non-physical mind, related to the soul, that allows humans to think and feel even if it has no â€Å"measurableRead MoreThe Mind-Body Problem Essay957 Words   |  4 PagesThe Mind-Body Problem The mind-body problem, which is still debated even today, raises the question about the relationship between the mind and the body. Theorists, such as Renà © Descartes and Thomas Nagel, have written extensively on the problem but they have many dissenting beliefs. Descartes, a dualist, contends that the mind and body are two different substances that can exist separately. Conversely, Nagel, a dual aspect theorist, contends that the mind and body are not substances but differentRead MoreWhy The Mind Body Problem1200 Words   |  5 Pagesworld, there is a battle going on that most of us are completely unaware of, and it is all comes down to the mind-body problem. The mind-body problem is how the mind and the body interact with each other. The mind is the mental side of things; thoughts, imagination, and most importantly consciousness, whereas the body is the physical side; the make up of your brain neurons and your body. On one side of this argument we have the Materialists, and according to the Oxford Dictionary, materialismRead MoreThe Theory Of The Mind Body Problem1198 Words   |  5 PagesIn the philosophical world there is a constant controversial debate of the mind body problem. This debate focuses on the different interpretations of the brain and its correlation to the consciousness. Philosophical theorists have used several approaches to explain this extremely subjective matter. The idea that the conscious being apart of the body or mental is diverse and theoretically proven to an indirect statement in comparison to the various arguments provided. Thus one may need to take a direct