There is one open-ended question regarding the nature of the mind and that is the mind
body problem. The mind body problem is the same thing as the mind brain problem,
as it investigates the relationship of the mind to the physical brain and nervous system.
The question is: Are you a mind with a body? Or a body with a mind?
Today, neuroscience suggests that our bodies and physical senses are
deeply associated with the activity in our brains and this forms what we call our mind.
Most neuroscientists today will say the mind is a part of the brain, or the body. Or in other words,
that you are a body with a mind. But it’s important to understand that this question
is left open because even science cannot find a solid, definite answer to it. There are various
perspectives on the topic, none of which have enough scientific evidence to form a conclusion.
What we do know is that our body or our brain is the physical,
biological parts of who we are and it has a definite shape that can be measured in size.
And our mind, on the other hand, is the thinking, conscious aspects of who we are.
It is generally agreed upon that the mind is what allows us to have subjective
awareness towards our environment, receive and respond to stimuli, and to have consciousness,
including thinking and feeling, or thought and emotion. But the main phenomena that
science has yet to understand is how neurochemistry in the brain translates
into these thoughts, feelings, or any other form of subjective experience for that matter.
The problem has been addressed by psychologists and philosophers for centuries,
and one of the more famous examples of this is Rene Descartes work in the 17th century,
which resulted in the idea of Cartesian or substance Dualism.
Substance Dualism argues that there are two kinds of foundations: mental and physical.
This philosophy states that the mental can exist outside of the body, and the body cannot think.
It argues that an immortal soul occupies an independent realm of existence that is different
from that of the physical world. Descartes claims that what is characteristic of a mind, unlike the
brain, is that it conscious and does not have a shape or physical matter. In short, he argues that
our bodies are in space and our minds are not. Descartes argues that we are a mind with a body.
Regardless of which one you believe defines who you are:
We each have a body. And we each have a mind. So, this leads us back to our original question:
Are you a body with a mind? Or a mind with a body? For now, science can’t answer this
question for you, so it’s up to you to decide for yourself. Are you a physical
body that only experiences thought and emotion because of chemical interactions in the brain?
That would be a body with a mind. Or is there a non-physical aspect of who you are that
pulls the strings and could reside outside of your biological body? That would be a mind with a body.