The Mind − Brain Problem from the Perspective of Agency

Abstract

Aim: In this article, it is argued that the elusive mind qualifies as an active agent which works through the brain rather than the brain creating the subjective mind or acting as the mind itself. Materials and Methods: This article relies on observation-based reasoned arguments and thus it is philosophical in nature. Discussion: We seem to be living in a virtual reality interwoven of subjective experiences of sights, sounds, tastes, smells, colors, pain, and pleasure, all rendered by the enigmatic mind. The mind cannot be reduced to physical existence such as the sporadic electrical activity of the brain since no electrical activity has ever produced such cohesive subjective experience, the same way that the laws of physics cannot be reduced to matter and energy that comprise the physical existence. Conclusion: Unlike properties, agencies differ from emergent quantities in that agencies more than passively qualify matter; they actively control and rule matter. Agencies are characterized by causal power, and thus the capacity to cause changes. Several agencies can be identified in nature. The agency of physics is associated with the physical realm and is comprised of the universal laws and forces of physics. Life qualifies as a purposive agency which is comprised of the laws and influences of life. Even quantum fields act like virtual mechanisms and thus qualify as active agents associated with the production of the fundamental particles of physics with a fixed set of properties out of quanta of energy.