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I think brain=behavior is an excellent story.  I personally have a hard time accepting ideas without substantial evidence to back them up, and I don’t see any evidence to support the idea of a separate “mind” or “soul.”  I especially enjoyed reading “Confessions of a Lonely Atheist,” because it echoes many of my own personal beliefs.

Evidence gathered from MRIs and PET scans strongly suggest that the physical brain controls all, as do case studies of people whose personalities and behavior were greatly altered due to some physical change in their brains.  There may not be evidence that definitely proves beyond a doubt that all behavior arises from the brain, but there is a good amount of evidence to suggest that this is the case.  So much of behavior is universal, even in very different cultures.  People who don’t speak the same language as each other and have different cultural backgrounds can still communicate with each other and understand basic messages and emotions.  These similarities are reflected in the similar structure of the human brain.  Yet each person’s brain is still unique, accounting for the many differences in the behavior of individuals that also exist.

I feel that the arguments in support of theories like Descartes’ are supported more by philosophy and theology than science.  I understand why so many people like the idea of a separate mind or soul.  It gives a sense of people being greater than the sum of their parts.  I, however, feel that this belief doesn’t give the brain enough credit.  Why couldn’t the brain be responsible for all aspects of behavior?  There are so many discoveries currently being made about the brain; it seems to me that we have barely scratched the surface of the many abilities of the brain.