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The Brain And Mind Identity

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Nothing in the world is more mysterious than the human mind but without the brain how do you have a mind? The brain sends and receives information by electrical impulses around the human body allowing us to see, move, feel, hear and think. If the brain is removed from the human body these impulses will cease, thus there will be no mind. Philosophers like Place, Smart, and Armstrong support this claim through the notion of identify theory and type physicalism. Brain and mind identity is a very controversial topic with some philosophers arguing that because people can have knowledge of a specific mental state without being affected in the physical state, mind and the brain may well be different. However with significant breakthroughs in neuroscience in the last century, such as Dr. Penfield’s Montreal procedure it is safe to say that the brain has direct control over the mind thus the two being in/distinguishable.

The brain has been determined to be the control centre for all nervous messages in humans. The complexity of the brain allows us to interpret these nervous messages into thoughts which in turn allow us to respond to them. To be able to have a sense of consciousness the brain must receive some form of stimulus. Type physicalism/identity theory which was first developed by Place (1956), which describes how different mental states are triggered due to the firing of the corresponding fibres. Philosophers like Place (1956), Smart (1959), Feigl (1972), and Armstrong

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