Terminology Tuesday: Mind-body problem
The metaphysical problem about the nature of the mind and its relation to the body. Called by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) the “world-knot” because of its ties to so many of the central problems in philosophy, the mind-body problem remains a major mystery. Most secular philosophers today espouse some form of materialism, which rejects the existence of the mind or soul as a separate, nonphysical entity. However, there is little agreement as to which form of materialism is successful or how materialism can account for such phenomena as consciousness and the “intentionality” or referential dimension of mental states (the power of mental states, such as beliefs, hopes and fears, to be about something else, as when I believe that God exists or hope for the second coming). Traditional religious views that affirm life after death have usually opted for some form of dualism, which would seem to make possible both a disembodied afterlife (on some conceptions of the soul or mind) and a resurrected afterlife, in which the soul enlivens or animates a new body. Materialists who hold to a resurrected afterlife must hold that the new body is identical to the body that died, a problematic claim.
Evans, C. S. (2002). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (pp. 75–76). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.