The mind–body problem is a philosophical problem concerning the relationship between thought and consciousness in the human mind, and the body.It is not obvious how the concept of the mind and the concept of the body relate. For example, feelings of sadness (which are mental events) cause people to cry (which is a physical state of the body). Finding a joke funny (a mental event) causes one to laugh (another bodily state). Feelings of pain (in the mind) cause avoidance behaviours (in the body), and so on.
Similarly, changing the chemistry of the body (and the brain especially) via drugs (such as antipsychotics, SSRIs, or alcohol) can change one's state of mind in nontrivial ways. Alternatively, therapeutic interventions like cognitive behavioural therapy can change cognition in ways that have downstream effects on the bodily health.
In general, the existence of these mind–body connections seems unproblematic. Issues arise, however, once one considers what exactly we should make of these relations from a metaphysical or scientific perspective. Such reflections quickly raise a number of questions like:
Are the mind and body two distinct entities, or a single entity?
If the mind and body are two distinct entities, do the two of them causally interact?
Is it possible for these two distinct entities to causally interact?
What is the nature of this interaction?
Can this interaction ever be an object of empirical study?
If the mind and body are a single entity, then are mental events explicable in terms of physical events, or vice versa?
Is the relation between mental and physical events something that arises de novo at a certain point in development?And so on. These and other questions that discuss the relation between mind and body are questions that all fall under the banner of the 'mind–body problem'.
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