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Exploring the mind, body and soul connection in art

the matter, the body and the brain, to think the thoughts, no such thoughts exist. Also a materialist is Gilbert Ryle who talks in most disparaging terms of the "dogma of the ghost in the machine." He feels that those who try and define the soul or mind are making a category mistake. He compares it to looking at a cricket team and asking which player is the team spirit. In a similar way the mind is not something separate from the body but something that is created by the physical body as a whole.


Materialism however can be undermined and dualism strengthened by asking the question that if mind is simply matter then why can't thoughts be created? In 1972 Dreyfuss wrote "What Computers Still Cannot Do" stating that although computers can be programmed to answer questions as a human being might, the human brain is infinitely more complex in that no matter how sophisticated the computer, it still cannot be programmed to have self-awareness. This would suggest that there is something unique and immaterial about self-awareness: dualism would account for this.
A less dogmatic form of monism is the Dual Aspect Theory. According to Bertrand Russell despite the fact that there only one substance, mind and matter are still too separate entities in that the one substance manifests itself in different ways. On the other hand an extreme form of materialism is Identity Theory. J.J.C.Smart claimed that mental events are the same ontologically as the actual brain activity. Therefore emotions, opinions and imaginings are just different ways of explaining the various neurological processes. Similarly Behaviourism entirely rejects a dualistic way of explaining our experiences as humans. Behaviourists, such as B.F.Skinner believe that all mental states are in fact simply behaviour. All thought is material; there is no thought beyond physical behaviour, for example pain leads to the action of crying out. Our behaviour is therefore entirely determined by physical stimuli and, as such, is thoroughly predictable.
John Hick rejects materialism and identity theory and embraces some aspects of dualism. Hick claims that we should look at our mental experiences prima facie, at first sight. Our instinct tells us that our thoughts are distinct from our brain activity and therefore there would have to be a good reason to say otherwise. The correlation between our thoughts and physical activity, although an obstacle, do not justify our rejection of dualism because the dualist interactionist


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