Mind

The mind is a general term for the way a person thinks, reasons, perceives, wills, has ideas, and has emotion. For science, what others call the mind is entirely caused by workings of the brain. The philosopher Gilbert Ryle called mind the "Ghost in the Machine". He said the idea that it was separate from the brain was the mistaken "Official Doctrine".^[1][2] However, some think that mind is separate from the body and is called a soul (see dualism).

Many people argue about what makes up the mind. Some say that only reason and memory are part of the mind, because they are conscious. In this view the emotions like love, hate, fear and joy are different from the mind. Some people with this view say the emotions are part of the heart. Others argue that our rational and emotional states cannot be separated and should all be part of what we call the mind.

People often use mind to mean the same as thought: the way we talk to ourselves "inside our heads". This is where the sayings "make up our minds," "change our minds" and "of two minds" come from. One of the important things of the mind in this sense is that it is private. No one else can "know our mind."

1. ↑ Ryle, Gilbert. 1949. The concept of mind. London: Hutchinson. p15–18 The absurdity of the official doctrine. ISBN 0-226-73295-9
2. ↑ Pinker, Steven 2002. The blank slate: the modern denial of human nature. London/New York: Putnam Penguin. Chapter 1 The official theory: p8–11. ISBN 0-670-03151-8