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Health and Wellness

Mind/Body Problem

What philosophy do you believe in?

Evan Scharf
Nov 21, 2016
Clark, NJ
133
Mind/Body Problem
Apologia

At the moment, I am still unsure about whether or not I am a physicalist or a dualist. I'm am leaning towards being a physicalist due to the inefficiency of dualism. Currently, no dualist has successfully been able to prove where the mind and body interact with one another. Philosopher Jeffery Olen believes that materialism does not make the mind’s effects on behavior at all mysterious, nor does it violate the law of conservation of energy. He also believed that mental states are events, not objects and that the alleged privacy of the mind is an illusion. This can be evinced in the gremlin theory of consciousness: even though the gremlin lived within the watch, it had nothing to do with the watch’s movement.

So, the question can be asked “what's the point of having a mind if it doesn’t do anything?” Dualism states that the mind and the body are two completely separate things. Physicalism exhibits the science behind the matter that dualism simply does not: physical objects are composed of cells, neurons, which are composed of atoms at their smallest level. This implies that if the brain is destroyed or damaged, then the mind is similarly destroyed or damaged, leaving the body utterly useless. Dualism is clearly more flawed than physicalism, as there is no scientific reasoning for the response to the mind body problem.


If you are a dualist, you believe that the mind and the body are two completely separate entities.

If you are a physicalist, you believe that the mind and body work together in order to form a common goal.

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