Philosophy of mind is the philosophical study of the exact nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, and consciousness, and of the nature of their relationship with the physical body. Two major schools of thought attempt to resolve the mind–body problem: dualism and monism. Dualism can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle in the West and the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy in the East and was most precisely formulated in modern terms by René Descartes in the 17th century. Dualism asserts the separate existence of mind and body. Monism, first proposed by Baruch Spinoza, maintains there is only one substance. Substance dualists argue that the mind is an independently existing substance, while property dualists maintain that the mind is a jumble of independent properties that emerge from the brain and cannot be reduced to it, but that it is not a distinct substance.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1792: The New York Stock Exchange was formed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange)
1900: Second Boer War: The Siege of Mafeking was lifted after 217 days. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Mafeking)
1902: The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known surviving geared mechanism, was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism)
1943: World War II: RAF Dam Busters successfully deployed bouncing bombs on German dams in Operation Chastise. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._617_Squadron_RAF)
1995: After 18 years as Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac was inaugurated as President of the French Republic. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
"There is no formula to it because writing every song, for me, is a little journey... It's everything. It's the walk you take in the morning, it's the night before, the meeting with people, landscapes, the chats, all of that evolves in some way into melody, but I'm not sure how it's going to happen. I'm dealing with the unknown all the time and that is exciting." -- Enya (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Enya)