more from Bertrand Russell

Single Idea 7550

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 2. Reduction of Mind]

Full Idea

It seems not improbable that if we had sufficient knowledge we could infer the state of a man's mind from the state of his brain, or the state of his brain from the state of his mind.

Gist of Idea

We could probably, in principle, infer minds from brains, and brains from minds

Source

Bertrand Russell (The Ultimate Constituents of Matter [1915], p.131)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'Mysticism and Logic' [Unwin 1989], p.131


A Reaction

This strikes me as being a very good summary of the claim that mind is reducible to brain, which is the essence of physicalism. Had he been born a little later, Russell would have taken a harder line with physicalism.