How to Solve the Mind-Body Problem

Nicholas Humphrey

April 2000, 112 pages
ISBN 0 907845 08 8 (paperback), £9.50 / $19.00

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The mind is the brain. Each mental state -- each hope, fear, thought -- can be identified with a particular physical state of the brain, without remainder. So argues Nicholas Humphrey in this highly readable yet scholarly essay. He offers strong support for his "identity theory" from evolution. His controversial claim is discussed and challenged in commentaries by authors such as Andy Clark (Being There, 1997), Daniel Dennett (Consciousness Explained, 1991; Darwin's Dangerous Idea, 1995) and Ralph Ellis (Questioning Consciousness, 1995). Humphrey rounds off the book with a response to his critics. An excellent short introduction to the mind-body problem and the study of consciousness.

'... Humphry's efferent-activity-that-I-am-aware-of' theory of consciousness and his resulting solution to the mind-body problem presents readers with a myriad of important issues in consciousness ...'
Trends in Cognitive Sciences

'Humphrey presents his theory here in a coherent, easy to follow, self-contained way . . . sets out some interesting new avenues of investigation' Metapsychology

"This totally engaging book not so much challenges current views on this most ancient of problem than cogently argues for its definition." Human Nature Review

"Coherent, readable and self-contained." Philosophical Writings

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The Author:

Nicholas Humphrey is author of the widely-read A History of the Mind (1992) and other books including Consciousness Regained and Soul-Searching. He is senior research fellow in evolutionary psychology at the London School of Economics.

Principal paper

Nicholas Humphrey, How to Solve the Mind–Body Problem

Discussion of Nicholas Humphrey’s Theory

Andy Clark, Phenomenal Immediacy and the Doors of Sensation

Daniel Dennett, It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature

Naomi Eilan, Comment on Nicholas Humphrey’s ‘How to Solve the Mind–Body Problem’

Ralph Ellis, Efferent Brain Processes and the Enactive Approach to Consciousness

Valerie Gray Hardcastle, Hard Things Made Hard

Stevan Harnad, Correlation vs. Causality: How/Why the Mind–Body Problem is Hard

Natika Newton, Humphrey’s Solution

Christian de Quincey, Conceiving the Inconceivable: Fishing for Consciousness with a Net of Miracles

Carol Rovane, Not Mind–Body but Mind–Mind

Robert Van Gulick, Closing the Gap?

Reply to Commentators

Nicholas Humphrey, In Reply

From the Commentaries:

Carol Rovane
Humphrey's account of the position of qualia in mental life is the most promising and fertile I have seen. I am especially impressed by his pivotal idea that sensation is itself a species of affect-laden intentional activity. This is a genuinely new idea with enormous appeal and explanatory potential, the full measure of which I suspect not even he has taken.

Robert van Gulick
Humphrey's article is full of intriguing and original suggestions, pointing out new directions for investigation and probing deep beneath the surface.

Andy Clark
I believe Humphrey's careful and progressive story, once insulated from the threat of circularity, holds out the hope of real progress in an argumentative arena depressingly close to a stalemate.

Natika Newton
Humphrey's article contains some profound insights... It has the potential to bridge the explanatory gap; no competing theory comes close.

Christian de Quincey
Sometimes, after years of painstaking work, someone presents a startling argument that seems to suddenly snatch the ground right from under your feet. And it's back to square one.

Stevan Harnad
The problem is hard, and alas Nick Humphrey, like everyone else so far, has failed to solve it.

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