Mind as a force field: comments on a new interactionistic hypothesis.
The survival and development of consciousness in biological evolution call for an explanation. An interactionistic mind-brain theory seems to have the greatest explanatory value in this context. An interpretation of an interactionistic hypothesis, recently proposed by Karl Popper, is discussed both theoretically and based on recent experimental data. In the interpretation, the distinction between the conscious mind and the brain is seen as a division into what is subjective and what is objective, and not as an ontological distinction between something immaterial and something material. The interactionistic hypothesis is based on similarities between minds and physical forces. The conscious mind is understood to interact with randomly spontaneous spatio-temporal patterns of action potentials through an electromagnetic field. Consequences and suggestions for future studies are discussed.
Department of Philosophy, University of Stockholm, Sweden.
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Lindahl
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Arhem
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D010684:Philosophy