Dualism is the belief that the human brain and the human mind are two distinct, independent entities. Dualism is a position on the mind-body problem that is attractive among the religious, and those who believe that human thought and emotion cannot be measured in chemicals alone; that the mind is something far more complex and far less explainable. Within the dualist realm, there are two branches: Property Dualism and Substance Dualism. The latter asserts that there are two forms of matter in the universe (physical and nonphysical) and that the mind is actually made of a type of nonphysical matter – physicists out there probably already have red flags being raised. This branch has been met with constant and well-backed criticism from the scientific community. The former, on the other hand, is a type of dualism which claims that there is only one type of matter in the universe, but that the brain is a physical object in a class of its own. It has a sort of emergent property – that being that the mind “emerges” from the brain only after the brain has reached a certain level of complexity. The brain is an object that has both physical and mental properties. Epiphenomenalism is a form of property dualism in which it is believed that the mind has no causal power over the brain or body. This claim is both consistent with currently held scientific theories and, as many intellects have found, very difficult to disprove. The idea that the human mind has no causal power is both logically conceivable and plausible.
Since writing this, I have taken it upon myself to determine which form of philosophical belief I belong to. I find this very difficult. At the heart of my beliefs is
that humans believe not according to rationale or reason but according to emotion; how they feel and what they perceive. For my purposes, I will describe emotion as the feelings created when the brain processes information. Following this, a human is not capable of controlling his emotions, but can choose to accept or repress them. This, I think, is logical because everyone has an initial reaction to events. Think of emotion as your first impression of what your brain processes. It is then up to your mind to determine what to do with this impression. Accept it; recognize it as truthful, or deny it; cast it aside as false.
that humans believe not according to rationale or reason but according to emotion; how they feel and what they perceive. For my purposes, I will describe emotion as the feelings created when the brain processes information. Following this, a human is not capable of controlling his emotions, but can choose to accept or repress them. This, I think, is logical because everyone has an initial reaction to events. Think of emotion as your first impression of what your brain processes. It is then up to your mind to determine what to do with this impression. Accept it; recognize it as truthful, or deny it; cast it aside as false.
Emotions cannot exist in the physical world. You cannot see, hear, fell, taste, or smell love, pain, or happiness. You can describe them, but merely describing them does not convey them. In order to understand love, happiness, or pain, you must experience them. Your brain must process them and then your mind must accept them. Your mind cannot simply accept everything it is given from the brain, because your brain can produce tainted images. Think of a traveler meandering through a desert. Just short of the horizon he sees – or so he thinks – a beautiful tropical oasis. Because he is hungry, weak and in need of nourishment his brain tells him to walk toward the oasis. Of course, as he nears the perceived oasis, he realizes that what he saw was nothing but a figment of his imagination. A scientific explanation: the refraction of light. A Cartesian explanation: trickery of the mind by an outside power. Either way the mind is not capable of realizing its own deception.
This being said, I believe that the mind must have a causal relationship with the brain, and thus the body. This assumption is critical to the belief that people act out of emotion. What I struggle with is the attempt to define mind. I do not fancy myself a dualist; I do not believe that the mind exists distinctly from the brain. How, then, does the mind exist with the brain? I wrestle with this. Could the brain simply be the physical manifestation of the nonphysical mind? Why have our studies of the brain not explained how our brain processes emotion? If they have, then why do we still have discussions with dualists? Is it conceivable that the mind and the brain are distinct? I don't think so. But then again, can we say that emotions do exist physically? I cannot do that either.
For now I am left at a loss.
Absolutely, I believe:
- People behave based on emotion, and
- emotions are nonphysical. Therefore
- The mind must have a causal relationship with the body
It appears that the mind should exist, and it should be distinct from the brain. I do not believe that the mind exists outside of the brain, so the connection is what puzzles me. I will continue to meditate on it, and hopefully come up with a satisfactory answer.
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