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As a psychology major, one of topics that I find most interesting in philosophy is the mind/body problem. This can be defined as the relationship between the immaterial mind and the material body. Philosophers from all times have contemplated this problem; two of which are Rene Descartes and John Searle. It is my hope in this essay to present an overview of Descartes and Searle’s theories as related to animal’s minds and …

…states “this is his skin.. That if you pinch his skin… you get behavior appropriate to pinching skin.” Basically, he states that an animal’s physiological make up and the animal’s basic behavior are linked. Hence, animals do have conscious minds. Searle differs from Descartes in that he is not considered a dualist. Searle believes that the mind is caused by the brain and that the mind is merely a feature of the brain.