
The dual-aspect theory says that the human mind and body are two features of one substance. Those who agree with this view might assume that all mental problems can only improve by addressing them with physical treatments. Those who take the materialism view believe that only the body exists, and the body generates everything that happens in the mind. However, some people don’t agree with this theory because they believe what happens in the mind can also impact the body. It’s easy to see that some physical events do influence your thinking. Those who agree with theory believe that the body causes everything that happens in the mind, including thoughts and feelings. One reason this theory is compelling is that nothing in the natural world, including the body, can be known without the mind.Įpiphenomenalism views the body as the source of the human mind.

The idealism theory of mind says that there is only the mind, and the body is a function of the mind. The following descriptions might give you an even clearer idea of what monism means. Another way to think of this definition of mind is that it sees the mind and body as one entity. While some people like to say that the definition of monism is “any body-mind theory that isn’t dualism,” that isn’t a very helpful description.

In this theory, the mind can cause problems in the body, and the body likewise can cause issues in the mind. In parallelism, the idea is that the body and mind are different, but they function in a parallel way. Descartes wrote much about this theory, which is often called Cartesian dualism.

Interactionism says that the mind and body are separate but influence each other in many ways. Here are the two most popular versions of dualism. While psychologists who believe this theory recognizes that there is some relationship between them, they don’t see body, mind, and consciousness as being equivalent in any way. The following are some of their theories.ĭualistic theories view the human mind, or consciousness, as something different from the brain. What these two components are and how they interact is the puzzle these psychologists are trying to solve. Many psychologists are interested in learning more about what they call “the mind-body problem.” The problem is that humans have a mind and the thoughts in it, and they also have a brain and body with physical processes of their own.
