254 THE PROBLEM OF BODY AND MIND 



The ^ Body and Mind ' problem has served to stretch 

 man's brains for more than two thousand years, and there 

 are many who would abandon it with the word ' Ignorabi- 

 mus \ But Man will never leave it alone, and the resolute 

 endeavour after greater clearness is likely to bring its own 

 reward even if the riddle remain unread. For the inquiry 

 patiently prosecuted is likely to lead to a deeper appreciation 

 of what we call ' Body ' and of what we call ' Mind '. And 

 this deeper appreciation is the practically important result. 



SUMMARY. 



The approach to the difficult problem of the relation between 

 * body ^ and * mind ' has been cleared (a) by the argument that 

 mechanical formulation is inadequate for the description of vital 

 activities, and (b) by the recognition of the pervasive role of 

 ' mentahty ' in Animate Nature. 



In any consideration of the problem there must be borne in mind, 

 from the biological side, how gradually mind develops in the in- 

 dividual, how gradually mind has evolved in the races of animals, 

 and how intimately inter-dependent the psychical and neural pro- 

 cesses are. Whatever theory is adopted, these facts remain. 



In any consideration of the problem there must be borne in mind, 

 from the humanist side, the reality of the thought-life, the reality 

 of the external spiritual not-self which man has in the course 

 of ages built up, and the potency of spiritual values in history and in 

 everyday life. Whatever theory is adopted, these facts remain. 



The question is how we are to think of our thought-life and of 

 our brain-life in relation to one another, for we can at any rate 

 talk of them as distinct actualities. At least seven answers have 

 been given to this question. Two of these are only acceptable on 

 the mechanistic hypothesis, namely (I) the throughgoing material- 

 istic answer and (II) the theory of epiphenomenahsm. The theory 

 at the very opposite extreme — subjective ideahsm — (III) seems to 

 deny the possibihty of science. The theory of psycho-physical 

 parallelism (IV) lands in apparently inextricable difficulties — so 

 well exposed by Prof. James Ward. There remain in the field three 

 possible theories: — (V) the theory of psychical monism, which few 



