The Mind-Body Problem

The mind–body problem is the problem of explaining how our minds are related to our bodies and to the rest of the material world. It is obvious that our experiences and thoughts, feelings, and emotions are closely connected to our bodies and brains. But what exactly is the nature of this connection? Is your mind simply identical with your brain and central nervous system? Physicalism or materialism says yes. Dualism and idealism say no; dualism says that mind and matter are two fundamentally different kinds of thing, whereas idealism says that reality is ultimately mental in nature. The mind–body problem really consists of two subproblems. The first is the problem of causal interaction, primarily a problem for dualism: If mind and matter are such different things, then how can minds have effects in the material world? The second is the problem of consciousness, primarily a problem for physicalism: How can consciousness simply be something material, since it seems so unlike everything else in the physical world? Taken together, these two subproblems in effect form a dilemma: If the mind is not physical, then how is mental causation possible? But if the mind is physical, then how should consciousness be explained?