Kantianism, Personalism, and Mind-Brain Theories
Kantianism and Personalism
Kantianism is a concept that illustrates the origin of songs. A person is free to enrich the people, and being independent means being free of it. The absolute values of the people: the account is not practical, useful, or beneficial, nor does it have the same objectives. A person is said to be Kantian.
Personalism is a movement that takes the human being as its central focus. This philosophy reminds us of the relationship between the elements that make up each person. Mounier’s personalist movement is outlined in the Manifesto of Personalism.
Brain and Theories About the Mind
There are three main groups of theories:
Materialist Monism
Pioneers: Epicurus, Democritus, Boyle, Gassendi, and La Mettrie.
Core Idea: Mental processes originate entirely from the material (brain).
- Physicalism: Mental activity is a physical-chemical process. Cybernetics is a form of reductive materialism.
- Emergentism: Mental aspects are not only physical but have emerged during evolution. Bunge’s theory posits a single substance (matter) with various properties resulting from evolution.
Beyond Monism and Dualism
- Emergentist Interactionism (Karl Popper): Attempts to overcome the previous two theories by indicating the existence of mental action, as dualism suggested. It also acknowledges that the mind is a result of brain evolution. Mental and material entities are not entirely different; reality is composed of materials that interact with humans.
- World 1: The physical body of evidence.
- World 2: Mental states.
- World 3: A set of products of the human mind.
Structuralism
Peter Laín Entralgo’s theory of structuralism. In his view, the concept of structure is more suitable than emergence or appearance because it better describes the dynamic links between physical and mental aspects. The brain has a structure and, therefore, operates on its own. Thinking, self-consciousness, free will, and mental and artistic creativity are due to the whole brain.
Dualist Theories
Dualist theories propose two elements: the brain and the mind, or, as in Plato’s case, body and soul.
Dualism
Body and soul are aligned in humans. The soul is immaterial and immortal; it is the principle of human life and the movement of the body. The body is material and mortal; it is the prison of the soul in the earthly world.
Hylomorphism
Aristotle proposed that the soul and the body are complementary. Two principles must necessarily take a certain shape: matter and form. There can be no soul without a body. Humans have a complex theory called hylomorphism. Thomas Aquinas believed that the soul was the form of the body.
Cartesian Dualism
Rene Descartes, based on Renaissance scientific knowledge, proposed that humans consist of two completely different substances: the body, an extended substance, and the soul, a thinking substance.
Interactionist Dualism
Neurophysiologist Eccles proposed that the mind and brain are two different realities. We have a self-conscious mind. The soul alone cannot explain the mind.