Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2015

 

Diversity of Mind: An Answer to the Mind-Body Problem

(Abstract)

 

Gao Xinmin and Liu Zhanfeng

 

The existing research on the mind-body problem overlooks the diversity of patterns and constituents of mind and differences in their nature, mistaking mind for a thing, a singularity or a unitary existence, thus obtaining a one-sided grasp of the nature of mind. Both mind and body are a compound of contradictions, containing mental tokens and patterns with diverse forms and natures. To reveal the nature of mind, we must follow the epistemological path from the singular to the general and comprehensively examine various mental patterns and tokens and their natures, and on this basis make generalizations about their commonalities and the nature of mind. In revealing the relations of mind and body, we should not only stress the relations of different mental patterns and tokens and concrete bodily composition, but should also explore the relations of mind and body as a whole. As to the position of ontology, while mental forms enjoy a secondary, sub-existential position, great differences remain between them in terms of existential manner and extent, so we cannot simply say what is or what is not. Hence there are four kinds of mind-body relations: the relationship between mind and body as a whole; the relationship between mind as a whole and the constituents of the body; the relationship between mental patterns and the components of the body; and the relationship between mental patterns and the body as a whole.