12 January 2017
The mind and its relationship to the brain have been investigated extensively in neuroscience and philosophy. However, either way of their determination raises principal problems whose solution seem rather difficult. These problems shall be called ‘mind-problems’ (see Figure 1) and are discussed either implicitly or explicitly in the ‘philosophy of mind’. Empirically, themind is determined by neuronal states, which are supposed to characterize the brain. Neuronal states of the brain are investigated empirically and related directly to different psychological and physiological functions. Meanwhile mental states can neither be investigated empirically nor related directly to neuronal states. Unlike neuronal states,mental states are not accessible in Third-Person Perspective, whichmakes their direct empirical investigation impossible.