Mind and Body
Notebook Question 1:
In her novel, Who is Julie? Barbara Harris invents the strange case of "Julia and Mary Frances." Mary Frances is out for a walk with her young child when suddenly the child breaks away and runs in front of a streetcar. Julia, who is nearby, sees what is about to transpire and throws herself in front of the child, pushing her to safety. Unfortunately, a double tragedy ensues. Julia, in her effort to save the child, falls across the tracks and is crushed by the streetcar. Meanwhile, Mary Frances, fearing that her child will be hit, has a stroke and collapses on the sidewalk. Both women are clinically dead.
But just then, Dr. Matthews, a brilliant neurosurgeon, happens by. She directs the emergency workers to take the women to her nearby clinic where she performs a macabre procedure. While the trunk of Julia's body was crushed in the accident, her brain was untouched. Mary Frances, however, suffered irreparable brain damage though her body remained intact. Dr. Matthews decides that, for the sake of both, she will insert Julia's good brain into Mary Frances's good body.
The operation was a success. The question is, however, who is the person lying in the recovery room?
The underlying question of this situation is: "what makes a person who he/she is?" Once that is determined, the "Julia and Mary Frances" case can be easily solved. A large number of people would argue that the mind is what makes each of us different from each other. Yet, where is the mind, what is the mind, how does the mind work? Many people believe that the mind is a part of the brain. Somewhere within that brown mushy stuff is your mind. Unfortunately, science and technology has not been able to accurately pinpoint the location of one's mind. The last two questions are even harder to answer. The mind is not something physical that one can dissect and have all their questions answer. Instead, the mind is something that has been hypothesized and believed to be in existence. As for the last question, no one knows for sure how the mind works. Time and time again, people have pondered over such fascinations.
Among these people was John Locke. Locke believes that everything has an existence.
What is embodiment? The embodiment theory holds that the nature of the human mind is largely determined by the form of the human body. Embodied cognition reflects the argument that the motor system influences our cognition, just as the mind influences bodily actions. People could be more effective if they thought/processed and planned and perceived as little as possible. A person’s intelligence would be used towards only handling the minimal amount of information necessary to make their behavior appropriate and more desirable to society. Our physical experience of the world and our spatial awareness, our bodily movement, and the way we manipulate objects provide the pattern for how we reason about the world. Reason is independent of the body and the body constitutes in cognition.
In a world of science, religion, ignorance and opinion common perception on whether or not the mind is separate from the brain has switched more times than one can track. A dualistic view on the body/mind relationship continues to be scrutinized day in and day out. As I will explain throughout the argument dualism is facing increasingly more constraints as time goes on. An evaluation of the mind/body argument from a Humean perspective proves dualism to be flawed in key aspects, where in contrast a materialistic approach is not affected.
In the reading by Richard Swinburne, he evaluates the mortality of the soul and its interaction with the human body. His position is best described as attributing the soul to a light bulb, and the brain to a functioning socket:
The nature of mind and body has been debated constantly, but the answer has always been present in our own minds. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, two extremely different characters, Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, are presented, and much quarreling has arisen over their being representative of the clash of the mind and the body, and if so, which is which. Sydney Carton is symbolic of the mind and Charles Darnay of the body. The mind, Carton, and the body, Darnay, are one being who react to situations adversely; but where the body is physical, the mind is philosophical, and the mind gives life to the body.
The relation between brain and mind is disputed over a long time. The debate is whether mind and brain are separate entities or not and if the mind is a separate entity, then how are mental properties, functions and consciousness in relation with the brain, being things which are non-physical. Consciousness helps to understand the relation between the brain and mind, by contemplating the reason or the source of it, if it’s a manifestation of the mind or just a by-product of brain activity. The existence of mind and mental states can be explained through a more philosophical perspective rather than a scientific one. The core of science is philosophy based on empirical evidence, mind being metaphysical cannot be studied empirically.
We usually view the mind as the brain and body as something physical. The mind may be better known and understood when one is thinking. When thinking, the mind is made up purely of thoughts and the body is an extension. The mind is telling the body what to do. The mind is a mental entity and the brain itself is the physical body. Although one can not have a mind with out a brain, the mind and brain differ in which one is mental and the other physical. Together the mind and body are like a foundation. Empirically we know that the mind needs a brain to exist, but the mind is not a physical substance. Moreover, a brain sits useless unless it has a mind. Substances with shape, mass, and other physical properties characterize the physical. In contrast, substances without any size, shape, mass often characterize the mental.
The Heart is a very important organ in the body. It is what keeps your blood flowing and your organs going. It is a tireless muscle that pumps more than two thousand gallons of blood every day. The blood that is pumped is filled with nutrition and oxygen (Colombo 7). It travels through out your body in less than sixty seconds. So it needs to be taken extra good care of. When abuse is put on the body, the heart’s performance is not at its best. The Heart is a major organ that needs loving and care. Everyone has only one and by abusing it, they are cutting their live span little by little. People can live their lives freely but how they choose to live them could be the difference between life and death.
Though Buddhism has long been a disciplined and strict religion since its’ beginning in the 3rd Century, it has recently gained positive utilitarian use within the psychological and neurological fields of science. Programs dedicated to improving and helping the lives of those who suffer from mental illness have started to incorporate the use of meditation as a form of treatment. Meditation is enforced in many schools of Buddhism as a method, or a way of life, to becoming enlightened. With growing qualitative and quantitative research on meditation, it becomes more evidential of the positive and life changing impact meditation serves in improving overall health of the mentally ill. Additionally, meditation can be implemented as a preventative
The mind-body problem can be a difficult issue to discuss due to the many opinions and issues that linger. The main issue behind the mind-body problem is the question regarding if us humans are only made up of matter, or a combination of both matter and mind. If we consist of both, how can we justify the interaction between the two? A significant philosophical issue that has been depicted by many, there are many prominent stances on the mind-body problem. I believe property dualism is a strong philosophical position on the mind-body issue, which can be defended through the knowledge argument against physicalism, also refuted through the problems of interaction.
Mindfulness is an ordinary cultivatable cognitive ability related to the well-being of psychology in both the adults and young people. It is characterized by the consciousness and approval of current opinion, emotions, and physical sensation (Bien and Beverly 2003). Mindfulness is intentionally developed using a secular method borrowed from the meditation practices of the Buddhists (Emet 2012). Mindfulness meditation training programs have been familiar to the adults and the small extent to children and young people. However, after realizing that it would be helpful to young people by promoting their social and emotional helping and improve their academic performance, a mindfulness meditation training program have become a priority
Overview This paper will discuss the mind-body connection and its relevance to health care professionals and to the public. It will explore the history of the mind-body connection, as well as state research that has been done on the subject. The reader will gain an understanding of the various techniques used in mind-body therapy, as well as their effectiveness. What is the Mind-Body Connection?
In philosophy, the majority of studies relate to the mind. Whether it is the main subject or just a helpful side topic to move the main subject along, this term is used often. Defining the term mind is difficult, and is a topic that is popularly studied and debated among philosophers. These qualified and knowledgeable people try to determine whether or not the mind is who people are or if they are their body or a combination. Although they have learned many helpful truths and defined other useful terms, the debate is still evident in the philosophical community today. Learning about how the mind relates to the body, and whether the mind and the brain are the same thing are other ways to look at the many options of how to discern
One can say or try and dissect the brain and try to figure what’s going on inside of it and that’s what Philophers today try to do that. Why is that why must the brain be dissected? This question is raised for the simple fact that Philophers really want to know why whats going on the human brain. This can also go back to “knowing” and believing in something. We will also take a look into emotion with a emphisis on facil expressions. Reading the human face could be a difficult task. Last but not least I will talk about the Philosphy of life and why it is important to have an outreach like that in life, futhermore this has an emphese on belief. Learning a lot this busy semester the topics above will be though out and discussed so that we can get a better understand of each of them.
The mind has an incredible power. We see it as we go through our everyday activities, constantly displaying the wonders of logic, thought, memory and creativity. Yet, can the mind be more powerful than we know? Is it possible to reduce or even eliminate pain, illness and disease by using the natural powers it possesses? Can the mind heal?