Is the brain equal to behavior? Does the idea of religion and culture stem from behavior, or is it some unexplained thing that people try and use the brain to explain? Does it have to do with the mind, or the brain alone, or together? Some would argue against the notion that the mind and the brain are one and the same. Others would say that the mind is only possible if the brain exists. Most evidence leads to the theory that brain is behavior. A good example of this fact deals with the different levels of nervous system organization in different animals. With increasing sophistication of the nervous system, the animal can perform a more complicated action, and along side it a more involved thought process. This can explain the reason why frogs are not serial killers, or why birds can't smile.

Everything is controlled by the brain, even extraneous thoughts and ideas that would seem more like the definition to the "Mind." The brain is the mind. Less sophisticated animals don't have emotions, or say a belief in God. Why is this so? It can be assumed that their brains don't have the capabilities to understand such complicated processes. Why else do they not have different races and cultures from the same species? Using this example, the level of organization a brain has determines the level of thinking, and how much of a "mind" the organism really has.

Levels of organization and comparison among animals are both interesting approaches that we'll make use of in the course. I'm less sure you want to try and use them as compelling evidence. Are you sure, for example, that birds don't have emotions, or, for that matter, that they don't believe in God? How would one know whether they do or not? PG