I'm not saying we need to be like guerillas and beat on our chests to show superiority (that would be freaking sweet), but we have gone to the other extreme were we almost depend too much on words and thoughts. As kids, we do weird things with our bodies and express our selves in bizarre ways--but some how I know that these bizarre ways are true and honest because kids are simple and honest. This change and separation of the mind and the body may occur because we your brain develops as you get older so you naturally use it more, society disapproves of 'loud' bodies that are too expressive, or maybe because were are a more intelligent creature that is based largely on language, literature, and speech.
However, even though our brain gets stronger, better, more developed (whatever you want to call it) as we get older, so does our body. Our body grows, changes, becomes stronger just as much. If we kept using our bodies to express thoughts think about the crazy things we might do now. I guess you wouldn't be following society's standards--but when has that, especially in this class, been that much of a factor? People sneak around those standards regardless. And as far as an intelligent species go, that shouldn't hinder us. With a solid mind body connection, we could be like this crazy-smart Star Trek species or something.
Descartes talks about the mind and body being clearly distinct--an accepted truth--yet, they're unified. Regardless of how separated they become, they are extremely close in terms of proximity. So are we just souls trapped in flesh? Is it divinity enslaved in a mortal prison? Or are we just animals with upgrades? Maybe living in our bodies instead of minds is an evolutionary trait we've dropped or no longer express. And if this connection has been broken, can it ever be rejoined?
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the way you ended your post. "Souls trapped in bodies" describes the way a lot of people think about their selves -- it explains the justification people feel through believing in any religion that claims that something happens to your "soul" when you die.
Descartes' _Meditations_ makes a big deal over the mind being something separate from the body. But if the brain is one of the bodily organs, and the mind originates within the brain and wouldn't exist without it, the mind must be inside of the brain. What happens in there involves a staggeringly complex array of interactions involving organic molecules, neurotransmitters, and electricity that I don't really understand at all, but am nevertheless content with calling "the mind."
I don't think Descartes knew about electricity being involved in the nervous system: "The essence of motor control is, then, the direction of animal spirits into the proper interfilamentous channels for transmission to the proper nerve." ( http://ow.ly/168IR )
If our minds are simply the cumulative processes of the brain, then yes the connection could be severed. Quadraplegics' minds are alive and trapped inside a body of which they have lost sensory and motor control. There is research being done today to restore the bodies to their minds.