Essay Database

One view of the mind says that connected to every living body--or perhaps only to living bodies that are able to think and be self-conscious--is a separate, non-physical thing we can call a soul. The body is one thing, a physical thing; and the soul is another, independent and non-physical thing. While the body is alive, the soul is connected to it, but it's possible for the soul to go on existing even after the …

…the materialist thinks, you'll get beliefs, and emotions, and memories, and so on. The brain and the body are able to have thoughts and experiences all by themselves, because of the complicated way that they're built, without any help from a non-physical soul. The only substances involved are your physical brain and body. When they are configured in the right way, thoughts and feelings take place, and then we say that you "have a mind."