Key Questions and Must-Reads on the Mind-Brain Debate
The infamous mind-brain (or mind-body) conundrum has stimulated debate amongst philosophers, scientists and psychologists since Aristotle in 350BC. A number of questions arise - Is the mind a product of the brain? What other animals have ‘minds?’ How might we define a mind? How can a mind be produced from a brain, but only from some brains and not others? Even now, there is no consensus on an answer to the mind-brain problem, but reading on the topic and related key themes will allow you to formulate your own opinion and give you exposure to a range of riveting theories, whether you are interested in pursuing Philosophy, Psychology/ Neuroscience, Biology, or are simply intrigued by the wonders of the mind. This article offers some of our top suggestions for exploration, as well as some ideas and thinking tasks, particularly useful for those with approaching university/ Oxbridge interviews.
Firstly, here are some key themes and topics to research/ explore:
Theories of Mind, and of consciousness
Philosophical principles:
Philosophy of mind
Mind-body problem (dualism vs monism): Is your mind a mental thing or a mental property? Is the mind separate from the body?
Hard problem of consciousness
Binding problem
N.B. These are as yet unsolved.
To research key topics and concepts, we recommend using JSTOR, Google Scholar, Nature, or checking out articles on sites such as The Conversation, The New Scientist, or The Naked Scientists.
Key Question 1:
The question of consciousness (what it is, whether it is a “hard problem”) is crucial to the “what is the mind?” question, the crux of philosophy of mind. To learn more about consciousness, the difficulties involved in defining it, and how we might solve the problem, we recommend:
The Naked Scientist’s “Uncovering Consciousness” Podcast with Cambridge University’s Tristan Bekinschtein - for understanding what the concept of consciousness is and why it is central to many scientists’ research
“Decoding the neuroscience of consciousness” article on Nature - for an accessible intro to consciousness and how our growing understanding of the concept could lead to fresh treatments for brain injuries and phobias
David Chalmers – Facing up to the Problem of Consciousness (1995) (Available free online here) - for an insight into the ambiguity involved in understanding consciousness, and how to address the “problem”
Damasio and others’ cognitive neuroscience approach to ‘solving’ consciousness
Key Question 2: "Does ‘red’ mean the same for you and me”?
This question draws on another central tenet of the mind-body debate, qualia. Qualia are our individual subjective experiences of the world: the taste of tea, the pinkness of sunset, the pain of a headache, the feeling of sand in your toes etc. Scientists debate over how meaningful qualia are e.g. how important pain is as a sensation, and how central qualia are to our understanding of our own existence. Researching qualia will give you a closer insight into ideas of subjective experience, central to the question at hand.
What to read:
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent resource, and has a great page on qualia, including an explanation of Mary’s colour experiment, which shines a light on this debate. One of the most famous thought experiments used to explore these questions is the case of Mary, who is imprisoned in a black and white room, but fed huge amounts of information about the physical facts of colour and colour vision by her captors until she becomes a leading authority, a colour scientist. Once released, she steps out into a garden of flowers and realises the experience of a colour is far removed from the physical facts. Whether this means ‘red’ is the same for you and me is still hotly debated, but when brainstorming an answer to the question, researching qualia should give you a heightened understanding of both sides of the debate
Thomas Nagel, What Does it All Mean?
This book is recommended by Lincoln College, Oxford, for prospective applicants. It is a great and short introduction to Philosophy, published by Oxford University Press. Nagel had a great impact on moral philosophy and the philosophy of mind particularly, and gives a great overview of the central distinction between the subjective and the objective
"What is it like to be a bat?" is the title of Nagel's famous 1974 essay, a thought experiment on consciousness which explores whether we can truly know what it is like to be a bat without being one. Can we ever truly know what it is like for someone or something else?
For more on the bat question, read The Ethics Centre’s article, “What is it like to be a bat?”
Key Question 3: What other animals have “minds”?
Comparative approaches in animals e.g. looking at how animals think, process information in ways that are both similar and different to us, can aid our understanding of the ‘mind’.
To think about:
Intelligence (how might this be defined/ investigated?) in different species
What other difficulties might there be in ethology/ how might animals ‘cheat’ in experiments?
How might sensation in animals be different to us?
With the release of Netflix’s Octopus Teacher documentary, the wonder of the octopus has been cemented in the public imagination. Peter Godfrey-Smith’s book, Other Minds, also offers an illuminating insight into cephalopods (squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus) as “island[s] of mental complexity in the sea of invertebrate animals”. For Godfrey-Smith, cephalopods break free of the brain-body divide. They are sentient beings, but also evidence that “evolution built minds twice over”, with minds entirely different from our own. Octopuses, whales, dolphins, parrots, much exciting research has emerged on the great minds of other species, and this is a wonderful place to start for those interested in evolution, consciousness, the mind-body debate, and intelligent life.
So how do we answer these ‘big questions’?
The fact that most of these questions are as yet unsolved, demonstrates the inherent difficulty in going about investigating something so nebulous as consciousness. The question of whether hard science can answer any of these ‘big questions’ is one that is ongoing. To explore how far we can go with neurophilosophy, research top-down, and bottom-up approaches, as well as the work of Churchland and Dennett. Consider both sides of the debate, and work out where you stand on the mind-body conundrum.
Interested in learning more? We explore qualia, evolution and consciousness, amongst a range of other exciting topics in our Online Philosophy, Psychology and Biology Summer Schools for prospective university applicants
We have recently released full PDF course outlines, detailing class content and bios for our Oxbridge-educated hosts.
See Biology/ Biological Natural Sciences Course
12 weeks, 1x weekly, June - August
Online
Small, interactive tutorial/ seminar-style classes centred on key debates
Aim to bridge the gap between school and university level
Geared towards providing content for your personal statement and impressive talking-points at interview, alongside widening knowledge