The 20th century had witnessed many great achievements by neuro-scientists and psychologists in describing the functioning of the brain and mind respectively.
It appears that there is an unbridgeable gap between the mental and physical world and, hence, between the mind and the brain. But is this necessarily so?
The many unanswered questions pertaining to the role of the brain and mind have given rise to heated debates on the ultimate question – are mind and brain one, or are they distinctively separate?
Does one give rise to another or do they work independently, each minding its own business?
This debate has been going on since time immemorial. On the one hand, we have psychologists and behaviourists who deny any scientific explanation to the philosophical concept of consciousness or awareness.
They are the proponents of the mind-brain duality theory. In fact, as this group of scientists were the pioneer of mind research, the duality theory seems to have an advantage over the rest.
On the other hand, there are the pure scientists who opine that mental events can be identified with certain activities of the brain cells, especially those located at the top part, known as the cerebral cortex.
This dissenting voice became more apparent after the 1960s, when invasive experiments on the animal brain were carried out extensively. Neurosurgery, began to make its mark as a definitive tool for treatment.
The introduction of non-invasive recording equipment such as scanners and imagers also helped to propel brain science to become a quantitative, and not merely qualitative science.
A new breed of neuroscientists, too, was born. They believe that the issue of consciousness will be resolved when we understand more about the brain through experiments in the laboratories, perhaps in many years to come.
For instance, the forebrain or frontal cortex, is known to be involved in reasoning and decision making as individuals deprived of this area, either through surgery or disease, have difficulty thinking.
Hence, it is generally understood that a neural equivalent of consciousness has to have direct projection to the frontal cortex.
Naturally, the neural basis of the mind has not met with a general approval of philosophers, who still maintain that although consciousness is largely a scientific issue, it is not entirely so.
More recently, though, another group of scientists came up with a third option.
A book entitled ‘The Self and its Brain’ published in 1977, appears to give equal status to the brain and mind, emphasising a concept of dualism as sharp as that of Descartes, but with the two entities actively interacting between one another.
This concept is known as dualist-interactionism. In this model, the whole world of conscious experiences, that is the mind, is sharply separated from the brain that exists in the physical world by an interface.
The mind is further subdivided into three components. First, an outer sense that detects light, colour, sound, smell, taste, pain, touch and forms perception.
Second, an inner sense responsible for thought processes, feelings, memories, dreams, imaginations, intentions and attentiveness. The third component is the psyche, self, soul or will.
It is postulated that mind interacts with the brain in the cerebral cortex. They are linked together by regular brain cells. Only in this case, the brain cells are given the name ‘psychon’, instead the regular �neuron�.
Dendrites that are the extensions of these brain cells are called dendrons. The mode of action of psychons and dendrons is by interfacing between the brain and the mind.
It is also interesting to note that this theory takes into account the ‘soul’ component.
But its author, the late Sir John Eccles, a Noble laureate in physiology and medicine, was brave enough to include this metaphysical notion in a scientific discussion.
Normally, it is thought that true blue scientists should not dwell into the spiritual realm. What Eccles has done actually is to dispel the myth that science and faith do not mix.
Muslim scholars also differ in their interpretations of the concept of brain or aql and mind or qalb. To some these two terms appear to be interchangeable, while others argue that the two represent different things.
The aql is associated with human feelings, sentiments and emotions. It collects information, organise it and deduce from it what is necessary to enhance the individual�s knowledge.
The qalb in turn, recognises this information internally and emotionally. The aql, it seems, is under the control of the qalb.
There are scholars who argue that aql is not similar, or even related, to the mind. According to Muhammad Ali Al-Juzu, a mufti from Lebanon, the Quranic concept of aql is quite different from that of philosophy.
In the Quran, aql is ‘neither the ultimate discoverer of the mysteries of matter and the universe nor is it the knower of what lies beyond this sensory world’.
Al-Juzu asserts that processes regarded to be parts of the mind today actually reside in the ‘heart’ or qalb. To him, qalb is not a biological organ but is actually the centre of human activity and responsibility.
It is privileged with control of human emotions, sentiments and feelings. And this non-biological heart too, is thought to reside somewhere in the human chest.
That is why when one says a promise one would put one’s hand on the chest. Al-Juzu contends that if science were unable to discover the characteristics of qalb, then it would be for no other reason than science’s own shortcomings.
However, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad indicates that aql is the thinking capacity by which man is distinguished from God’s other creatures in this world.
He was reported to have said: ‘God has not created anything better than reason or anything more perfect and more beautiful than reason.’
Another scholar, Fazlur Rahman is of the opinion that as far as the Islamic teaching is concerned, there is no such thing as the brain-mind dualism.
The Quran does not propose that a heavenly soul and mind, and an earthly body somehow are joined in an uneasy union or bond whence one seeks release from another as soon as possible.
A human being is a single organism functioning in a manner whereby he is not just the ‘outer’ body, that is physical frame per se, but also an ‘inner’ person, which may be regarded as the mind.
Rahman believes that a radical mind-body dualism that originates from the Greek philosophy arises from the realism that the soul and body are separated at death, and the latter will be destroyed forever.
Admittedly, more work needs be done to further explain, or even debunk, the brain-mind duality theory.
The most stubborn bastion of the theory is perhaps consciousness. It is expected that this area would be the major emphasis of neuroscience in the coming years.