replacement of body and brain theory

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how was the soul, mind and consciousness theory replaced by the body and brain theory?

-- kaushi gurukandura (kaushi2004@hotmail.com), June 29, 2004

Answers

"Soul" is a religious concept, not a psychological one. Mind has not been "replaced." Many psychologists still use the concept of mind, though they are attempting to figure out how the mind emerges from the activity of the brain. There are many, many, many, works on consciousness. It is among the "hottest" topics in cognitive science at present. See works by Dennett, Chalmers, the Churchlands, Tye, Lycan, Gazaniga, to name just a few.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), June 29, 2004.

Hi Kaushi, I think that particularly during the first half of the 20th century, psychology as a whole, was trying to be particularly objective and often challenged or ignored the concepts of soul, mind, and consciousnes. The experimental method was particularly useful in studying concrete phenomena like the internal body structures and activities, body movements, and verbal reports. In modern psychology these objective phenomnea listed above are still of major concern to psychologists, but the concepts of mind and consciousness are also quite popular again. The concept of the soul may be less commonly used in psychology because of the difficulty of defining and measuring it, as well as the many religious theories about the characteristics of the soul. Certainly many religious psychologists accept the existence of the soul, but often see it as a matter of faith, rather than a topic to be experimented on directly. Particularly in the area of the psychology of religion, their is much interest in studying spiritual experiences, religious beliefs, and moral decisions. Some psychologists may mentally partition off certain religious beliefs and activities from the more concrete and more easily testable aspects of the world. This may allow them to see themselves as modern objective observers of the world, while still engaging in the religious activities that often bring a somewhat unique and often very powerful social-emotional comfort and meaning to them. Religious beliefs can sometimes also help people be more concerned about others and help control their own behavior. While people with a college education, and particularly scientists, tend to be less religiously active, there are many of them that feel that they can combine an interest in objectivity with religious beliefs in their life. Needless to say, sometimes religion can be used by individuals or groups to justify their own socially destructive activities. I hope this helps. Paul

-- Paul Kleinginna (pkleinginna@georgiasouthern.edu), June 29, 2004.

Kaushi G. asks "how was the soul, mind and consciousness theory replaced by the body and brain theory?" One good place to start for an answer to this is Owen J. Flanagan's *The Science of the Mind* (1984). Chapters 1 "Minds and Bodies: Rene Descartes and the possibility of a science of the mind" and Chapter 2 "Naturlizing the Mind: The philosophical psychology of William James" would be particularly helpful.

As for the latest issue under dispute (about emergence of mind) between Christopher and Jeff (above)I think "Activity Theory" (a la A.N. Leontiev) acknowledges that 'mind emerges from the activity of the brain' but is more careful than most comparative or cognitive psych approaches to discuss which brains (or nervous systems) are being talked about.

The "Prepsychic" stage of cellular sensitivity (activeness) as well as the 'sensory' and 'perceptual' psychic stages (Leontiev's terms) are recognized as necessary *evolutionary preconditions* for the emergence of higher levels of mind (in its thought-producing role) in both 'animal psyche' and 'human intellect'.

It is in this levels of analysis sense that "The brain (as a thought- enabling organ) emerges from the activity of the mind."

The great (and rather under recognized) importance of Leontiev's (1981) work is that it provides a careful account of the shifts in the respective dominance of 'activeness, operations, actions, and activities' changes phylogenetically, ontogenetically, and socio- historically.

http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/AT.htm

Leontyev, [Leontiev], A.N. (1981). Problems of the Development of the Mind. (Trans. M. Kopylova). Moscow: Progress Publishers.

Cheers,

Paul F. Ballantyne

-- Paul F. Ballantyne (pballan@comnet.ca), October 16, 2004.


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