Wigner flirts with panpsychism or at least a radical discontinuity between animate and inanimate systems. Critics say this reintroduces a Cartesian dualism that modern neuroscience has banished. Defenders say Wigner is simply following the logic of the measurement problem.
Unlike many philosophy texts, Wigner writes with physical rigor and almost no jargon. The PDF is accessible to advanced undergraduates.
The mind-body question is not a bug in human reason; it is a feature that reveals the richness of our self-understanding. A final remark: perhaps the answer will not be a theory but a practice—meditation, neurofeedback, or art—that transforms the question itself. remarks on the mind-body question pdf
After finishing “Remarks on the Mind-Body Question PDF,” consider these complementary texts (all available as PDFs):
Wigner follows John von Neumann’s analysis: the “cut” between the observed system and the observer can be pushed arbitrarily far—until it reaches the consciousness of the observer. Only at that point, Wigner argues, does the superposition collapse into a single outcome. In his words: “It is the entering of an impression into our consciousness which alters the wavefunction.” Wigner flirts with panpsychism or at least a
The apparent contradiction is stark: If mental events cause physical events (1), and causality requires strict laws (2), then there must be mental laws. But (3) says there are no strict mental laws.
For the student downloading the PDF, this distinction between (this specific pain is this specific brain state) and Type Identity (pain is Unlike many philosophy texts, Wigner writes with physical
Wigner opens with a disarmingly simple question:
Davidson entered this fray with a revolutionary perspective. The PDF you are looking for is the blueprint for his theory of , a view that attempts to reconcile the causal power of the mental with the strict laws of the physical world.