Mind/body Problem

[Nora]

 

 

I am currently studying philosophy and about to submit an assignment on the mind/body problem. I'm asked to explain the strongest arguments for and against dualism. There are no definite answers to the problem yet.

 

But I do find the argument presented in the video quite compelling.  

 

I'd love to hear someone else's view!

 

[Siim Land]

Cartesian dualism takes takes away the importance of the body and gives too much recognition to the mind. Instead of them being 2 distinct entities, I would argue that they're intertwined and enmeshed with each other. It would be hard to tell, whether our consciousness could exist without a body because we don't have enough knowledge about the brain nor skill to do anything with it if we did. But one thing seems to be true as discovered through phenomenological enquiry. Here's how Merleau-Ponty describes it - "the body is the vehicle of being in the world, and having a body is, for a living creature, to be involved in a definite environment, to identify oneself with certain projects and be continually committed to them’ ". Consciousness stems from the body being in an interaction with its surroundings. So the duality between your subjective body/consciousness and the world is also questionable. Perception by nature is indeterminate: it ends in objects but begins in the body. (M-P)

[David1]

@Nora

So what he is really saying is 'monkey see, monkey do'?  This is a well known and exploited phenomenon.  Basically all advertisements use this, porn, movies... What does this have to do with the mind-body problem? The fact that i can close my hand on command, simply by 'wanting' it,...that is mind over matter. That is the real mystery.

In my opinion, the body is the mind and vice versa. Why? There is a neural correlate for every thought, every feeling, every emotion. What happens to the body affects the mind, and what happens in the mind affects the body. So why would there be a distinction between them? Let's take for example getting angry. If i see something or experience something that makes me angry, a whole chain of biological processes start. Basically, my brain sends signals to my adrenal glands who in turn release adrenaline, wich makes my heart rate go up, wich make my bloodpressure go up...and i end up being angry, and agitated. Now if i am calm and relaxed and someone gave me a shot of adrenaline...the outcome will be the same. My heart rate and blood pressure go up and i'll be angry and agitated, and i can't stop it with my mind.

 

Edited October 24, 2016 by David1

[Leo Gura]

@Nora You're not going to resolve the mind/body problem through language, reasoning, or logic from inside the materialist reductionist scientific paradigm.

You can only resolve it by having a direct consciousness of the fact that all of reality is infinite consciousness.

There is no body, there is no mind, and there is no world. All of those are thoughts. You have to work to become mindful of how this is so.

It's not a matter of argument. It's a matter of awareness of what's actually happening when you say, "This is my body. This is my mind." When you say or think these things, you're not aware yet that these are just noises arise from nothingness.

[Extreme Z7]

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

You're not going to resolve the mind/body problem through language, reasoning, or logic from inside the materialist reductionist scientific paradigm.

You can only resolve it by having a direct consciousness of the fact that all of reality is infinite consciousness.

There is no body, there is no mind, and there is no world. All of those are thoughts. You have to work to become mindful of how this is so.

It's not a matter of argument. It's a matter of awareness of what's actually happening when you say, "This is my body. This is my mind." When you say or think these things, you're not aware yet that these are just noises arise from nothingness.

Are you foreshadowing the future episode "Why Philosophy is Wrong - A Critique of Philosophy"?

I'm just kidding around.