The mind/brain problem (MBP) is a concept that makes it difficult for psychiatrists to explain the connection between mental or neural and physical phenomena. Over the past years, there has been an emergence of various proposals seeking to clarify whether to consider the issue as a single, general, or a series of interconnected problems. Several theories such as dualism, materialism, property dualism, and others developed to explain the mind/brain problem. However, there is no agreement as to which explanations to go by and individuals choose the theory to believe. The Roman Catholic Church sanctioned dualism which is a belief that the brain and mind are separate entities. The idea became a prevailing view for several years and consists of different forms of explanations. Dualism holds that the mind and body are different in an attempt to address the body/mind problem, and there are supporters and opponents of this theory.
The argument of dualism, also known as Cartesian Dualism; named after the founder; is that the human body and brain are different. There are two forms of dualism, and the first one is substance dualism that states that the mind and body consist of two distinct substances. 1 The mind or soul consists of non-physical substances whereas the body is comprised of physical substances called matter. The second form is property dualism which claims that mental events are non-physical properties of physical phenomena. Dualism holds that the body and brain are physical matter and they behave according to the laws of nature: hence making them viable for study. 2 On the other hand, the human mind is non-physical, and this means that it does not obey any natural laws. Generally, the most definite form of dualism suggests that man is body and mind, whereas the weaker version implies that there is a relationship between physical and mental events. In this case, dualists believe that the mind influences the body. Most Christians are believers of the dualism approach to the mind/brain problem. Therefore, dualism theory states that man is made up of body and mind, and these are different in terms of their nature.
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Given the differences in the body and mind, there has been the question of how they relate; hence leading to the emergence of varieties of the concept. The first is interactionism that states that the mind and body casually influence each other. For instance, one's thinking affects their speech and actions and senses influence the everyday experience. However, critics state that the mind and brain lack the communality needed for interaction given the differences in their mental properties, states, or substances. The second variety of dualism is epiphenomenalism, and this provides that physical occurrences cause mental events and that the mind is a by-product. 3 However, mental events may not seem to be effective because some mental events take place before specific physical phenomena and people do not pay attention to the events in the brain that cause physical activities. The third variety of dualism is parallelism that provides that there is no causal interaction between the mind and body and that they run in harmony with each other. 4 Parallelism holds that if physical and mental events were to interact, then this would be a strange coincidence. Therefore, there are varieties of dualism namely interactionism, epiphenomenalism, and parallelism.
Dualists can argue in various ways to elaborate the mind/brain problem, and one is indivisibility. One argument is that the mind consists of conscious and unconscious thoughts and that most of the time, the mind does not engage in conscious reflection and could be busy at various levels of the unconscious mind. 5 Also, dualists could argue that the soul always thinks, but memory elapses when an individual sleeps or is under anesthesia. When the human mind is awake, an individual grasps events happening around them; but if they sleep, then the same happens for what they had learned earlier. Christians apply this concept of dualism because of the belief that the essence of the mind is self-thinking and that God unites minds with bodies to create a human being. They can also differentiate whether physical actions could be as a result of mental events, and vice versa. Generally, the arguments of dualism are based on the fact that we can see the body and brain and that scientists can study the same unlike the mind that is invisible.
Dualists claim that the mind and brain are basically different and that they exist independently. However, there is no clear explanation about how they can influence each other in case they run parallel or interact. Most non-scientists use dualism to explain the differences between the body and the mind. Critics of dualism argue that it contradicts with the facts of human evolution and fetal development. 6 When a fetus is conceived, their development starts early, and no physical traits are added to their lives at a later stage. Others also oppose dualism and state that the theory violates the principle of conservation of energy that scientists have established. Dualism argues that the body and brain interact, and this implies that there would be some form of energy required for the process, and the levels would increase or decrease. The criticisms have led to individuals supporting other theories such as functionalism, identity theory, behaviorism, materialism, monism, and others. Thus, there are various critics of dualism theory and these question the application of the approach to explain the mind/brain or body/mind problem.
In conclusion, dualism states that humans are composed of the body and mind and that these are different. Whereas the body is physical and obeys laws of nature, the mind is non-physical and does not follow any law of nature. Interactionism holds that the body and mind influence each other and epiphenomenalism provides that mental activities cause physical events, while parallelism states that if these two interact, then it will be a strange coincidence. However, critics point out that dualism violates the principle of conservation of energy and is inconsistent with the facts of human development. Critics have led many to abandon the concept of dualism in explaining the mind/brain or mind/body problem. Hence, there are supporters and opponents of dualism, with Christians being the most individuals that agree with this theory.
References
Armstrong, D. M. (2018). The mind-body problem: An opinionated introduction . Routledge.
Polten, E. P. (2019). Critique of the psycho-physical identity theory: a refutation of scientific materialism and an establishment of mind-matter dualism by means of philosophy and scientific method (Vol. 14). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Sevush, S. (2016). The Mind/Brain Problem. In The Single-Neuron Theory (pp. 1-18). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Thibaut, F. (2018). The mind-body Cartesian dualism and psychiatry. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience , 20 (1), 3.
Westphal, J. (2016). The Mind–Body Problem . MIT Press.
