Video from The School of Life
“The so-called Mind-Body problem is one of the greatest and most quietly painful conundrums in philosophy – and more importantly, in everyday life. The problem is rooted in the fact that in the eyes of other people, all of us are automatically and stubbornly associated with our bodies (which includes, of course, our faces). The way we look is the overwhelming factor that dictates how others assess our natures and our characters. Whatever lip service we might pay to less punitive ideologies, in the practical world, who ‘we’ are is taken to be how we look…” from video introduction.
“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of Nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.”
-Max Planck
As humans, we recognize each other by names associated with bodies and faces. Some philosophers have argued that our body is just an extension of “us”, and we are something else besides the body. This “something” be it soul or spirit is able to control our bodies, including our brains, and is separate from our bodies. Physicalists have claimed that we are just our bodies, and that the brain controls our actions. This is known as the mind-body problem.