Worldview vs. Science: Mind-body Duality
Cassandra Rene’ Roberts
Portland State University
Abstract
Worldviews are held by every person. It is up to that person to decide if science
influences the way they think about their worldview. The topic of mind-body dualism is
an example of a worldview in which science is taken into account. Through scientific
research and other examples, the worldview is elaborated on using scientific reasoning.
Keywords: science, worldview, mind-body duality
Introduction:
Science and worldviews are two concepts that are very much related to each
other. Science can either inform a worldview belief in attempt to provide proof for why
one believes such a thing, or it can disprove it by providing evidence against the idea. It’s
important to look at all sides of a worldview before coming to a conclusion about its
validity. Science is a tool of the human species that doesn’t take into account religion.
Science simply states the facts and tries to provide logical explanations and theories for
why and even occurs. Worldviews are the beliefs that a person has about the existence of
higher powers, evolution, and so forth. When science is used to explain a worldview,
clarity can be found. In this paper, mind-body duality is the worldview that is being
attempted to be explained with scientific studies, as well as other scientific context. The
purpose of this paper is to argue in agreement of the mind being a part of the brain, and
not separate.
The Worldview:
There exists no mind-body duality. Mind is simply a state of the brain. In other
words, this worldview states that the mind is merely part of the brain, doesn’t exist
elsewhere, and isn’t a spiritual aspect of the human body. A common issue that as been
ruminated by philosophers and scientists for many years, mind-body dualism has been
attempted to be explained by science as well as factual evidence. What people consider
the mind has become something that is observable and measureable, thus science is the
most logical form of explanation for what the “mind” does and how it reacts.
Scientifically speaking, we relate studies on the mind to the brain. Scientists have a pretty
good theory about what exactly the mind is. The brain is considered something that isn’t
separate from the brain, but merely the brain’s “information processing activities.” This
being said, in order to explain how science has been able to explain the non-existence of
dualism, one must know the background behind the theory itself.
According to ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, the mind is in all living
things, and distinguishes them from the dead. (Morris, 2002) He considered the mind to
be a material substance, something that is often interpreted as a “soul” by those of
religion. The definition of a mind seems to have varied throughout different cultures. The
philosopher Plato thought that the mind and the material body were two very separate
things that interact with each other. This was dubbed “dualism.” The first person to truly
attempt to answer the mind-body/dualism question was Descartes. (Lycan, 2007)
Descartes believed that the mind is completely separate from the body and any other
physical objects. This theory developed into that of Cartesian dualism. Descartes
believed that the mind has no size and no specific location in which it lies. Even though
Descartes considered the mind and body two separate things, they seemed to interact with
each other.
There is so much that one can observe from the background given about mindbody dualism. For example, there are seemingly many holes in the arguments presented
by the likes of Plato and Descartes. The explanations given by these philosophers for why
they believe that the mind and body are two separate things lack the evidence to prove
them. Although this is understandable because their ideas were developed before the
availability of modern technology, there is still one thing that stands out as a major gap in
these philosopher’s arguments: “If the mind was separate from the brain, it would be
difficult to measure scientifically.” (Lycan, 2007)
Now, in the present day, we have been able to do tests and a variety of
experiments to study the human brain, and get answers for what people see as a soul and
not part of the body. Things such as MRI’s and PET’s have shed light on the function of
the human brain. It is thought that emotions and free will just happen magically. Truth is,
“The very act of introspection suggests a qualitative difference between the mental and
the physical, and so it feels as though we are made of two parts: mind and body
(Descartes, 1641 and Ryle, 1949).” (Preston/Ritter/Hepler, 2013) In other words, it may
feel like humans have free will, but our choices are already predetermined by our
subconscious. As mentioned previously, MRI’s and PET scans of the brain can pinpoint
where our decision making occurs, scientifically knocking out the belief that the mind is
not part of the body and that we don’t have free will. It is through neuroscience that
scientists can determine the source of thought, or our “mind.”
Part of what the “mind” or “soul” does is give us feelings. With feelings come
physical side effects such as crying, shaking, sweating, and many other visible results.
These results are quantitative and observable and thus prove that what is thought of as the
mind is really part of the human brain making a person feel this way. If our mind was
separate from our body, these emotions that are felt would not result in such physical
occurrences.
Studies have shown that there are specific parts of the brain that determine
characteristics. For example, it was discovered that there’s a part of the brain that controls
fear, called the amygdala. People who damage this part of the brain tend to become
fearless but otherwise mentally stay the same. (Morris, 2002) This is just one among
many neurological studies that have shown that the brain consists of many different
neurons that are each responsible for different functions.
An aspect of the mind is one’s subconscious. The subconscious is the part of the
brain that works even when a person isn’t consciously thinking about something. Science
has yet to prove what part or parts of the brain that the subconscious lies in, or even what
exactly being unconscious means. The only organisms that scientists deem conscious of
their actions are mammals. Mammals have enough neurons in their mind to know truly
know a subconscious.
The subconscious can influence the way that a person makes decisions. This
includes our ability to lie. When one is conscious, they are more likely to tell a lie, as
opposed to being unconscious, where one is more likely to tell a lie. (Seyfarth/Cheney,
2013) Our subconscious knows when a person is lying. This is why it’s only fair, but not
extremely accurate, for somebody to be questioned during court only consciously.
Conscious thinking is the truly limiting way of thinking for a person. Unconscious
thoughts are more reliable, because a person is tapped into the part of the brain that is
unreachable during consciousness, this part of the brain being the “mind.” When one is
conscious, information is weighed differently. Being conscious is a block between logical
information based on previous experience and what is physically felt and observed. For
this reason, taking a lie detector or polygraph test can never be 100% accurate. Somebody
could simply be in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness.
(Reinhard/Greifeneder/Scharmach, 2013)
fMRI scans (or functional magnetic resonance imaging scans) of the brain have
scientifically shown how the brain functions when somebody thinks. fMRI’s produce
measurements from deep inside the brain. (Smith, 2012) fMRI’s measure the amount of
oxygen and neuron changes in different parts of the brain. fMRI’s have been able to show
that “the brain is highly compartmentalized, with specific regions responsible for tasks
such as perceiving faces and weighing up moral responsibility.” (Smith, 2012)
There’s another form of brain imagine that is often used to observe the mind.
Positron Emission Tomography, or PET scans, are a form of brain analysis that measures
the annihilation radiation in the brain when positrons are absorbed in the matter, which
allows scientists to observe an accurate image of the radionuclide in the brain’s tissue.
(Raichle, 1994) PET scans are noninvasive and can be done on a living creature. It can
measure the flow of blood in the brain as well as metabolic levels in the brain.
One study that used a PET scan focused on the brain’s word processing ability.
The study included the observation of the brain on four different levels of processing.
Subjects who were placed in the first level focused on a central point on a television
monitor. The second level subjects also focused on this fixation point, but were exposed
to English nouns below this fixation point, and were made to passively look at these
words, while they were repeated to them through headphones. Third level subjects did the
same as the people in the first two levels, but they were asked to repeat out loud the
words that were read to them. Fourth level participants did the same as the first through
third subjects, but were made to speak the verb associated with the nouns they heard. By
subtracting the level below the one a subject was in there was isolation between response
and mental operation. These observational traits were in the form of change in blood flow
in the brain. From this comes the conclusion that the brain essentially multitasks in order
to accomplish tasks, showing that the brain is the central powerhouse of the human body,
the mind being part of this.
Another way of thinking about the mind is through studies about meditation.
Often meditation is thought of as something spiritual. That isn’t the case. Scientific
studies have shown that mediation is something that occurs within the brain and even
helps the well being of a person. Generally, a person’s mind wanders. This means that the
person thinks about past, current, and future events. (Hafenbrack/Kinias/Barsade, 2013)
Meditation is practiced in a variety of cultures, and has been scientifically proven to
change the mind in a way that’s different than brain surgery, for example. This is
important in proving that science has an effect on the mind.
If the mind were separate from the body, would this also apply to organisms that
aren’t human? What about animals? Studies on the mind aren’t just limited to humans.
There is cognitive thinking in other mammals as well. Other mammals express emotions
that humans do. By saying that the mind is separate from the body in this case would be a
lie. It’s thought religiously that creatures other than humans don’t have a soul or “mind.”
If that were the case, scientists wouldn’t be able to observe the same kind of behavioral
characteristics in other mammals. It has been studied that other mammals have the same
traits as humans, such as the same kind of needs to have sexual intercourse or mate.
(Panksepp, 2011) Another trait that humans have in common with other mammals is the
need or longing to “play.” This is clearly an emotion that humans experience in their
daily lives. The longing to have an enjoyable time is an essential part of human and
mammal well being. Not to mention the “fight or flight” adaptive instinct. It is also a
common trait that humans have in common with other mammals. Humans and animals
are both able to feel reward and shame. Satisfactions and discomforts are both embedded
in the parts of the part of the brain that is the same in humans and other mammals.
Animals obviously have souls too, if the religious idea of mind body dualism were to be
correct.
Returning a gaze from one person to another is a process that occurs in the
prefrontal cortex (Seyfarth/Cheney, 2013) is something that happens in animals as well.
Mammals tend to play off one another’s actions and emotions. Humans are consciously
aware of our own behavior and reflections about whether or not somebody else’s actions
were intentional, neuronal responses that we have are more subconscious than conscious.
Both humans and animals can recognize faces for this reason. Between humans and
animals, the way that information is observed and recorded in the brain is very similar.
The way the brain is shaped and designed between people and animals is so very close,
although animals lack a few things that could potentially make them human.
Conclusion:
The simplest conclusion that can be made given the previous information is that
science is very important in influencing a worldview. In fact, science is crucial in
influencing anything. There’ve been experiments done on beliefs in the Bible that have
been proven to be true as well as disproven. There’s so much scientific evidence in favor
of the mind being separate from the body. The fact that what is considered the mind is
really part of the brain that can be analyzed and studied is the main argument that is
made. If mind-body dualism actually existed, then animals wouldn’t experience the same
things that humans do, according to most religious beliefs. Whether it be through MRI’s
or PET’s of the brain, scientific studies have shed light on the thinking patterns of the
brain, in which the mind is simply part of. Mediation is just another way in which
religion just so happens to be interpreted in a different way that has a logical scientific
explanation, just like the logical explanation for lie detection.
Researching all of these facts over the course of this paper has only influenced my
personal beliefs as well. It has reassured me that what I believe and my main thesis are
both accurate in the face of science.
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