Epiphenomenalism

Epiphenomenalism : The Mind-Brain Controversy Does the mind really exist separate from the brain or is it just an epiphenomenon of brain activity ? That is , does the mind only exist as a result of brain activity (Bieri , 1992 ) I wish to extend this issue by pointing out some experiments I 've encountered over my life . By way of introduction , however , I need to preface my entire argument by stating that the general view of neuroscience , the science that studies the brain , is that the mind doesn 't exist except as a result of brain

br activity . This issue goes beyond the question of the mind and touches directly upon the question as to where the soul itself exists . While this may appear to be opening a can of worms (perhaps you might enjoy some sautyed worms , I have come to feel that it is actually impossible to answer the question as to whether or not the mind exists independent of the brain unless we are grounded in our knowledge as to the existence of the soul . So , for now , I hope you do enjoy the taste of worms sautyed in garlic butter

Two sets of experiments beginning in the 1929 and then in the mid-1930s , have bearing on the question as to the existence of the mind as an epiphenomenon . In 1929 , William McDougall began some experiments that ultimately suggested that the mind has not two , but three levels of consciousness : the conscious mind , the subconscious mind and the super conscious mind . Subsequently , in 1935 and 1939 , Dr . Harold Saxton Burr presented experiments suggesting the existence of the soul . We will ignore Burr 's work (which is unfortunate since science seems to have done likewise ) due to time constraints except to say that Burr proved that the soul exists and that the mind should be a component of the soul . Thus , with Burr 's work , we should be able to better understand what puzzled McDougall and others about his (i .e , McDougall 's ) work up to the day he died . Although the super conscious mind 's existence has been confirmed by Western science (McDougall , 1929 ) and it has been acknowledged in the East for millennia , the super conscious mind is not presently known to science

Super consciousness does not give rise to abnormal psychological states . It can act on a collective psyche level involving numerous different psyches outside the confines of a single , individual psyche or a single physical body . Dr . William McDougall accidentally discovered evidence for its existence in the late 1920s as the result of genetics experiments . Super consciousness may be no more than a Universal Subconscious that acts collectively outside of an individual , but if so it is distinctly different from the individual subconscious because it acts on a group level independent of physical matter

Let me pause here to present what has grown to become my definition of the soul . I have grown to define the soul as the conscience , the mind with its consciousness , the ego with...