EVALUATING INTERACTIONISM AND THE QUESTION OF MIND-BODY PROBLEM

Interactionism is a philosophical theory that attempts to explain the relationship between the mind and the body. It posits that the mind and body interact with each other, with mental states influencing physical states and vice versa.¹ The mind-body problem is a longstanding philosophical issue that concerns the relationship between the mind and the body. It questions how mental states such as thoughts and feelings, can interact with physical states, such as brain activity and bodily movement.² Mind body problem is not just a difficulty about how the mind and body are related and how they affect one another. It is also a difficulty about how they can be related and how they can affect one another. Their characteristic properties are very different, like "oil and Water", which simply will not mix given what they are. There is a very common view which states that the French philosopher, "Rene Descartes" discovered or invented this problem in the 17th Century.³ According to Descartes, matter is essentially spatial. It has the characteristic properties of linear dimensionality. Things in Space have a position, at least, and a height, a depth, and a length, or one or more of these. Mental entities on the other hand do not have these characteristics. We cannot say the mind is located in a position in space inside the skull. This is not because it has some other shape in space, but because it is not characterized by space at all. What is characteristic of a mind, Descartes claims, is that it is "conscious", but not that it has shape or consists of physical matter.⁴ Unlike the brain, which has physical characteristics and occupies space; it does not seem to make sense to attach spatial descriptions to it. Hence, our bodies are certainly in space, and our minds are not. This issue aroused considerable interest following the publications of Descartes's 1641 treatise Meditations On First Philosophy.⁵ The difficulty, however, is not merely that mind and body are different. It is that they are different in such a way that their interaction is impossible because it involves a contradiction. It is the nature of bodies to be in space, and the nature of the minds not to be in space, Descartes claims.⁶ Evaluating Interactionism involves examining its strengths and weaknesses as a theory of the mind-body relationship. Some of the key strengths of Interactionism is that it provides a clear explanation of how mental states can causally interact with physical states. It can also account for the subjective nature of mental experience, such as the feeling of pain or the sensation of redness.⁷ Interactionism also provides a frame work for understanding the complex interactions between the mind and body. The weaknesses of Interactionism include: "The Problem of Causal Interaction", that is to say, interactionism struggles to explain how mental states can causally interact with physical states, given the fundamentally different nature of these two realms. Also, Interactionism is often associated with dualism, the view that the mind and body are separate entities. However, this raises the challenge of explaining how these two entities interact.⁸ Evaluating Interactionism and the Question of the Mind-Body Problem is a complex and challenging tasks, but it is essential for understanding the relationship between the mind and the body. By Interrogating the ways in which dominant ideologies shape our understanding of the mind-body problem and to perpetuate its systems of operations. In this study, we analyze the Interactionism and the Question of Mind-Body Problem, by examining and evaluating how both the mind and the body relate and how they can interact. By critically engaging with different scholars' perspectives or debates on the mind and body problem, we seek to elucidate the ways in which the mind and body operate and relate, and as well propose alternative understanding on the Interactionism on the mind-body problem.⁹ Descartes's 1641 treatise: Meditation On First Philosophy offers a critical approach for understanding the distinction between the mind and body, and how they interact. Despite its long-standing prominence, interactionism faces significant challenges, including questions about the physical plausibility of mind-body causation and criticism from materialist and monist perspectives.¹⁰ This study aims to critically evaluate interactionism's validity in addressing the mind-body problem and its capacity to resolve key philosophical and scientific objections. The thesis of this study is that Interactionism offers a plausible but incomplete solution to the mind-body problem. The thesis of this study is based on the position or claim of Descartes which says that, the mind and the body interact at the point in the body called the "Pineal Gland". Since Descartes was not able to profer a solution to this problem, this research tries to bring a solution to this problem of mind and body. That is to say, the point of interaction mentioned in the thesis of this study is in our "Consciousness".¹¹ This can help us understand and address the point of interaction between the mind and the body. This thesis argues that, as claimed by Rene Descartes, the "Pineal Gland" plays a significant role in the interaction between the mind and body. Descartes contends that the "Pineal Gland" is the seat of the soul, where the mind and body interact. By examining how this interactionism has became a problem in philosophy, this study suggests another point of interaction of the mind and body which is "Our Consciousness". Our Consciousness can provide alternative approach to understanding Interactionism and the Question of Mind-Body Problem. On evaluating Interactionism and the Question of Mind-Body Problem, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia questioned Descartes' Idea of the mind-body dualism, exposing the weakness in his view.¹² Princess Elisabeth and Pierre Gassendi pointed out that if the soul is to affect the body, it must make contact with the body, and to that, it must be in space and have extension. In that case, the soul is physical by Descartes own criterion.¹³ It was Descartes' critics who discovered the Problem, right in his solution to it. Descartes himself did not yet have the mind-body problem, he had something that amounted to a solution to the problem. Was there really no mind-body problem before Descartes and his debate with his critics in 1641? Long before Descartes, philosophers and religious thinkers had spoken about the body and the mind or soul, and their relationship. Plato, for example, wrote a fascinating dialogue: The Phaedo, which contains argument for the survival of the soul after death, and for its immortality. Plato also proposes a tripartite soul, Consisting of reason, spirit and appetite, which interact with the body.¹⁴ Aristotle believes in "Hylomorphism" where the mind (form) and body (matter) are inseperable.¹⁵ Then St. Augustine integrated Platonic and Christian ideas, emphasizing the immateriality of the soul and its interaction with the body.¹⁶