mental states and matter

[Tristen]

this topic may have been discussed already, but I think it should be discussed without dealing with religion or God. can any materialist give sufficient proof mental states are purely material? To me, the fact that they coincide with nueral firing seems irrelevant (can it even be disproved that thoughts cause neural activity rather than vice versa?). I see awareness as the main issue; how can the laws of physics account for awareness/subjective experience? We're no where near understanding how we could contruct a computer with subjective experience and self-awareness. Things like beliefs and motives seem to have no resemblance to anything in physical theory. Obviously if we ever were able to detect and understand mental states, the laws of physics would expand to include them, but it seems just as likely that they are nonmaterial things belonging to a dimension that is undetectable using scientific tools.

[Chatha]

Most of what happens in the brain is actually just an interface with the outside world, which is why mental states are a function of the outside world. Mental states are akin to the mind's ready or suspend states. They are subject to long and short term causes so they are not independent, not to mention the fact that they can be induced by one's self. Now, we know nobody knows how we think largely because we are the ones inducing thoughts, and when we are not they are induced by long and short term enviromental factors. Since form follows function I will think thought follows neuron activity, besides we have only one kind of neuron for many functions of the same brain and many different thoughts. Kind of like the entelechy of atoms and the different chemical elements that it produces. Furthermore emotions and feelings have been linked to secretion of chemicals by the brain. I think there are many classical mechanics that can be applied to mental states and awareness, but we are yet to even solve classical and quantum mechanics itself.

 

 

"Just by looking at the outside world, you are looking at someone's brain. A desktop Computer is a though once in someone's brain that has materialized, there is no real mystery to the brain itself