Should We Cosider Mind Equivalent To Brain - Essay Example

Is the mind equivalent to the brain Have we ever asked ourselves what is the chemical structures of love, sadness, or fear It is hard to find the answer to this common question even to the philosophically sophisticated mind. The reason can be simple in a dualistic sense. We cannot put material, physical, or chemical structures upon a component entity of the mind because it is not matter and it is separate from the chemical processes that governs sensations and other physical functions of the brain and the nervous system. This feature separates us, being the highest form of creation, from other creeping things on earth. We are body and soul, and just as the brain controls the physical, the mind is part of the soul. But a materialist may argue and find possible answers to this question as they proposed that every kind of emotions are governed by neural activities each having their own unique pathways. Biochemical processes just like energy production yield chemical compounds responsible for energy generations. Hormones are some of these chemical products of body system processes which they can associate to emotions but enough evidence is needed to show that there are variations among the same type of hormones among different individual persons. Insulin in a person can be the same insulin in another. This becomes the problem to explain emotions since this feeling varies with individuals. This is among the reasons why emotions and mind is considered to be some external factor that works in coordination with the body system such as the brain. The argument of this essay is based on a substance dualism approach integrated with the idea that the substance of the brain and that of the mind although separate in nature works together to coordinate body functions such as digestion, circulation, hearing, seeing, and other bodily systems and integrate these with human thinking and feelings of every kind produce sensations, emotions, ideas, and even think beyond the unthinkable. The concepts about the mind Since we accept that the mind as a separate entity that works hand in hand with the brain it would be necessary to relate the working of the former and how it connects to the physical brain. Before discussing deeply to support our stand on dualism let us examine some basic understanding of what is the mind. Theory of the mind basically revolved within the human being's capacity to understand his own behaviors like emotions, beliefs, intents, desires, knowledge, and others, and to feel that other individuals have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from that of own self. This capacity is believed to be the result of evolutionary changes in the human brain (Povinelli and Preuss, 1995). These functions are inherent of the mind and are not physical but are accepted to be manifested in the brain, as a dualist understands (Calef, 2006). Latest neuro-imaging technology has identified the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), temporal poles, and posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) junction as the particular areas in the brain that are more likely associated with the mind. (Firth and Firth, 2003 and Saxe et. al, 2003). The mind and brain had been thoroughly studied by different sociologists, philosophers, psychologists and every field of science and theology. There are several approaches used in the study of the functions of the brain and mind. The most common are the modular approach (Scholl and Leslie, 1999) and the integrated (Anderson & Lebiere, 1998). The modular considered every mind activity as a separate module in the brain. The integrated approach considered the mechanisms of understanding as an integration of all the modules that work to produce a comprehensive show of emotions, ideas, and understanding. The approach considers that to create a better feeling on a food taste, the sensations of the hand mouth and other mechanism connect to each other. Our idea is anchored within this context. The foundation of dualist idea It is hard not to mention Descartes when we are talking about dualism in the discussion of the mind and brain. He pioneered the idea that the mind and brain are two separate substances. From him a lot of variations came out which also created discussions among scholars. We have studied substance dualism as the initial theory and most famous among the dualisms (Philosophy Online) and is the core of the Descartes' concept. We have also discussed property dualism which states that consciousness is a non-physical property of the brain that results from certain physical events in the particular kinds of neural activity. We have also considered the double-aspect theory which stated that consciousness and correlated physical processes are two aspects of the same underlying process ant that neither is reducible to the other. Philosophy online mentioned other variations of dualism which include new ideas but the foundation is still the same. It cited Occasionalism which suggests that neither body nor mind were causally related, but were in fact connected by divine interaction. So, whenever we wish to lift an arm, for instance, God must intervene to cause the body to obey similarly, whenever the body feels pain, God must cause that sensation to occur in the mind. In Interactionism the mind and brain is suggested to have a causal interaction which means mind influences matter and vice versa. We put particular focus to these theories as they have bearing with our own critical evaluations. Our stand is coherent with Descartes' initial ideas but it is also related with the others like interactionism. Although we do not touch on the spiritual side of our argument yet, the concepts we are presenting would led to that later. So, we also account the occasionalism view and other views which are parallel to the concept we try to express here. In order to understand our point we need to elaborate on the idea of dualism that considers brain and mind as separate things but are working together. Development of mind and brain We have a general idea how the mechanisms of the brains are working to produce physical responses and they are more integrated rather than modular. With this process, we believe that an external factor is behind the processes of these responses. This external substance works directly through the brain in coordination with the body systems. In short we support modern dualism by taking a stand that the mind is also affected by the contents of the physical brain (Eliasmith, 2006). As an analogy let us consider a television which can function to provide images but the images is produced through an external signal. Let us consider the physical side of the brain. In the process of human development from childhood our brain acquires a lot of data and information. The piling of these bits of information even started when the young brain is developing in the womb including from the first words, the first images, the first sounds, they are recorded. The complexities of the information stored in the brain increases as a lot of inputs are drawn everyday through the senses and all body systems. There are millions and millions of information stored in our brain that if a material body system alone will process them in random, it is impossible that humans would attain harmony with each other. Without some external factor that controls these data and process them to be consistent for a person, the person's mood will vary every second. The mind in the other hand, as we consider it an external factor, may not be unique on every individual, but its working is associated with how the individual brain has developed is what is unique. The mind seems like an external reference the body uses to process the information. The complexity of the output the reference would provide into the body depends how much available resources the physical body has. The development of the mind's output depends with the physical brains' database. As the brain gain more complex information, the complexity of the mind to decide also evolved. To provide an analogy, the mind cannot tell you to cry based on a tragic accident, if your brain have no information about crying sensation. Or simply, you cannot tell a newborn baby to jump. Others claim that there are body activities which the mind is not aware. It can be possible as brain functions are processing in nature and that basic inputs of sensations may not make use of the mind. This is evidence that physical functions are separate from the mind but are used by the mind to convey the processed information or inputs. Likewise there are mind activities which the physical body is late to respond. The good and the evil minds If the mind as an external partner of the brain in human's activities and is a developed guiding role of every individual, how come some people can suddenly change from evil to good or vice versa Does it mean it can be changed overnight We have proposed the idea that the mind serves as the code and the guiding rule within the physical systems that the physical system cannot change. But, the mind, as we have illustrated earlier is influenced by how much experiences are stored in the brains databank. And it does not mean that the data and information only contain good ones or bad ones. Both experiences are present. In like manner, the rules outlined in the mind do not only consider best options using good information. Results of the mind process, manifested by the persons' reactions are based on what information are fed by the brain and the physical senses is feeding into the mind processors. If a person is watching violent movies, sex, and crimes, and the physical brain retrieves other good sensations caused by this inputs, the most likely result would be that the person would commit violence or crime. This is simply "garbage in-garbage out." Likewise if you feed the minds with good inputs then what would come out are good deeds. Going back to the question how bad people can change overnight If we psychologically consider it seriously it is so hard to change a person's attitude overnight. The changes can be a battle of the brain and the mind and it is fought every time the brain feeds the mind with past experiences of doing the usual things. But it is always true that changes in ones practice from the evil deeds to the righteous actually follow a period of realization and an experience to compare. The good experience can be a recent event or an event of the past. In most cases the change occurs after an event that can cause major consequence. Let us consider smoking as an example. Most smokers quit only after being diagnosed with cancer of the lungs or major illness. The change is brought by the consequences which now are recorded in the brain. The person concerned may have stored into his brain ideas from past reading about the consequences of the illness and these serves as the regular input to the mind which is the basis for deciding to stop smoking. This is one mechanism that explains the process of changes. The spiritual side of dualism Finally, since we accept that the mind as the guiding principle of the brain and body functions, and that we accept that it really exists, we can put personality on this substance. Theology refers to this substance as the soul. Although it is integrated in our body system it can exist without the body. Although it is attached in the brain it can separate from it when the physical body ceases to function. But there is a final question of what would be the identity of the soul if the information stored in the brain vanished when the physical body is consumed We stand to believe that the soul is pure from the beginning; the mind that is placed in the growing body is perfect. The Bible affirms this idea when the founder of Christianity "Jesus Christ" said that those who attain resurrection from the dead (the soul) do not marry anymore (Luke 20:35) "for they do not die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God," (verse 36). These concept of dualism stand on the idea that the soul has no more identity as it is absolute and perfect from the very beginning. Once the physical body died, the soul which controls the mind return to the absolute one they call God which is of the same stature. It can be reborn into another individual and guide the new born to a new cycle of life. But in the ideas of resurrection in Christianity, this spirit is restored with the physical body and everything. This concept is not however our emphasis but is a potential explanation to the issue of resurrection. Conclusion The idea has brought us so far into the world of spirituality. In the essence, the integrated idea of dualism of the brain and mind this essay has presented can be questioned by a lot of experts in the field. But perhaps this simple critical evaluation may lead to something deeper in the study of the mind. If no other ideas that exist close to these, perhaps some parallels may have, it is recommended that further study along this line be done. References Anderson, J. R., & Lebiere, C. "The atomic components of thought" (1998). Calef, Scott. "Dualism and Mind". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. 31 January 2008. Eliasmith, Chris. "Dualism" Dictionary of Philosophy of Mind. 1996. 31 January 2008 Frith U and Frith C. D. "Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 358.1431(2003):459-73. Philosophy Online. "Philosophy of the Mind". 31 January 2008 Povinelli DJ and Preuss TM. "Theory of mind: evolutionary history of a cognitive specialization". Trends Neuroscience. 18.9(1995) 418-24. Saxe, R., Carey, S., and Kanwisher, N. "Understanding Other Minds" Linking Developmental Psychology And Functional Neuroimaging. 2003. 31 January 2008 Scholl, B. J & Leslie, A. M. "Modularity, Development and Theory of Mind." Mind and Language. 14.1(1999)131-153 Read More