Reply to comment

Brain= Behavior… I’ll believe that. After all, the brain is responsible for all of the motor functions, thought processing, memories, and much more. In class, I agreed with Descartes’ view that the brain and the mind are separate, where the mind holds consciousness and something greater that distinguishes us from one another. As discussed in class, Dickinson’s poem says that the mind and brain are the same thing and the brain is responsible for constructing the outside world as we know it to be. Dickinson’s view is very interesting but I’m having trouble grasping it. With Dickinson’s view it seems as if we’re living in a fantasy world constructed by our brains, which is fascinating to think of when writing science fiction or philosophy but I would like to think that what I’m experiencing is real and not something my imagination came up with. Dickinson’s view led me to think of some questions. For example, many of us are familiar with the famous cartoon involving the coyote and the road runner. Usually the show involves the coyote falling down from a cliff, but before he falls down, he sometimes would walk a little away from the edge before realizing that he was in the air and then falling down. In this case, if the coyote’s brain/mind constructed a situation where he would’ve kept walking in mid air instead of succumbing to the theory of gravity (another construction of the brain), would he have kept going without falling down? Also, where do schizophrenics and other people suffering from hallucinations fit into this, since their brains/minds are constructing things that are not in sync with the majority of the population?

Even though I support Descartes’ view, I don’t know how strongly I feel about it. It may be because of my beliefs but I don’t think a bunch of chemicals, neurons, and molecules are solely responsible for our individuality. There has to be something more, at least that’s how I feel. I think the brain can be divided into the brain (what allows us to perform our basic functions as organisms) and the mind (what makes us different from one another) but a human being cannot function and survive successfully without both of them.