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I have spent some time thinking about Dickinson and Descartes in terms of the brain and the mind.  I definitely favor Dickinson’s description.  Her assumption is even consistent with my training as a chemist; I think.

Starting from the assumption that the brain is a material object; then chemistry, the branch of science that studies matter should have something to contribute to our understanding.  I think that biochemistry could be really useful for identifying neurotransmitters, enzymes, and other brain related chemicals.  Currently, it is possible to synthesize medications based on biochemical information about the brain.  Antidepressants are used to modify chemical imbalances in the brain that correlate with depression.  However, there are some significant issues with antidepressants specifically and psychopharmacology in general.  Some of these issues stem from a lack of knowledge about brain chemistry and some from the fact that chemical analysis ignores other significant elements of the brain. 

So I would like to think about topics beyond simple brain chemistry.  I am not yet sure if there is such a thing as complex brain chemistry.  Maybe in terms of gene expression, RNA, and proteins?  More importantly, I want to know how the chemical reactions of the brain give rise to the complex behavior of living beings.  It seems to me, that there must be a lot of levels of increasing complexity between calcium ion messengers and a small smile.