Bodies and Minds

The mind-body concept of healing is not new. What is now called Hypnosis has been known to exist in almost all societies in the past, although its nature has hardly been understood. Although the term “hypnosis” has been used only since the 1840s, priests, shamans, healers and medicine men began using this technique, or some form of it, centuries earlier. Evidence of hypnotic-like phenomena appears in many ancient cultures. There are written records about hypnosis going back 5,000 years in Mesopotamia…

Search for Solution to the Mind-Body Problem The distinction between mind and body has been philosophical fodder for millennia. In its simplest form, the mind-body problem seeks to answer the question: What is the relationship between the mind and body? Philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists alike have crafted various theories in attempt to comprehend the place of thought, feeling, and self-understanding in the natural world. The first investigations into the relationship between mental…

agree that consciousness provides a very difficult problem in understanding the mind-body concept; this is why from a materialist’s point of view, the problem is not sufficient enough for giving one’s attention. Thomas Negal on the other hand, finds the problem rather interesting. Negal’s “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” proposes a number of arguments, one of them which states that the subjective approach to the mind-body problem should be abandoned for a more objective approach (Nagel 1974, pp. 436)…

makes a compelling argument on androids and the mind/body problem. The episode is about Lt. Commander Data who is an android who acts identically to human behavior. Data is put on trial to find out if he should have human rights or if he is considered property of Starfleet. The episode makes interesting points as to what qualifies a person of having a mind and soul. William Hasker uses multiple categories to list out the different views on the mind/body problem in his book Metaphysics: Constructing…

Mind and Body The concept of mind and body interactions has been debated among many modern philosophers. Some believe that our minds and bodies are different things, thus existing separately, while others believe that they exist as a whole. In this paper, I will be introducing two rationalist philosophical views regarding this topic, one which is by Rene Descartes and the other by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Rationalists, in philosophical terms, are the ones who obtain their knowledge through…

Descartes has a very distinct thought when thinking about the mind, and how it relates to the body, or more specifically then brain. He seems to want to explain that the mind in itself is independent from the body. A body is merely a physical entity that could be proven to be true scientifically and also can be proven through the senses. Such things are not possible with the meta-physical mind because it is independent of the body. Building on his previous premises, Descartes finally proves whether…

brain. 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…

The Mind and the Physical Body Since the times of Plato and Aristotle, the argument of dualism and mutualism of the mind and body has been in existence. Dualism has been the driving force behind the existence of the mind/body problem and has been by far the majority view due largely to the influence of Descartes. In recent times, modern medicine has taken a shift towards mutualism. Outside stimuli, as perceived by the mind, affects the body either beneficially or adversely. While the body as…

Is the mind independent to the body? The mind body problem is a philosophical problem that is concerned with the relationship between the mind and the body, whether the mind exists independently of the body or whether the mind and body are one substance. There is a vital difference between the mind and the body some would say, meaning that the mind is held responsible for mental elements such as pain, euphoria, desire, purpose, belief and kindness whereas the body is responsible for the physical…

Androids and the Mind/Body Problem The Synopsis: Star Trek Episode “The Measure of a Man” deals with the thought that android could have physical and mental properties. In order to fully understand or evaluate this we have to have a clear understanding of the Mind/Body Problems and solutions. Humans are material objects consisting of physical and mental properties. Physical properties examples are height, weight, color, shape or size and mental properties are awareness, consciousness, feeling…