mind and body
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mind and body
An association long regarded as a Cartesian duality of disparate entities, after the work of Rene Descartes (1596–1650) but now recognized by most medical scientists as aspects of a unity. The prevailing view, today, is that the manifestations of the mind are wholly the result of neurological (mainly brain) activity and that, given sufficiently detailed knowledge of the structure and function of the nervous system, the association between function of the nervous system and corresponding mental capacity will be seen to be complete. Mental processes involve widespread brain function and are not localized to single brain areas. The existence of the mind body problem has been dismissed by some philosophers, especially Gilbert Ryle (1900–76), as an example of a category error.Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005
References in periodicals archive
What Professor Ayala, a chief witness in the trial in Arkansas against creationism in 1981, calls the "brain-to-mind transformation" is usually described as the
mind-body dichotomy or problem.
The main argument hinges on the French Cartesian mindset with its
mind-body dichotomy. In Balzac's novel, the Centenarian requires that his ever-aging body remain alive, for it is the vehicle through which the mind and knowledge operate.
Barbara Ehrenreich's essay is based on the antiquated concept of a
mind-body dichotomy, as famously championed by Rene Descartes.
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