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sense in the "great schemc of things"
for the human mind to obliterate itsel f?
No longer can we afford the lackadai–
sical luxury of relegating this vital issue
to suburban cocktail parties, freshman
philosophy courses, and the proverbial
bull sessions. No longer can we waste
what little time we may have left by
playing the role of the "cool" philoso–
pher - as if we were uninvolved
bystanders. No longer can we non–
chalantly and condescendingly
amane
that this problem is insoluble. We have
no choice but to consider it.
We need an answer
now!
lt is within this sobering context that
we begin this series of artides on the
question - the organization and pur–
posc of the human mind. Not as an
interesting study in physiology or psy–
chology.
But as a matler of life a11d
death for humanity!
What
l s
Man? - What Is Mind?
W hat ttre tl'e?
Everything revolves
around this one pivota! qucstion.
Scientists, philosophers and theolo–
gians have been locked in debate from
time immemorial. But the time for de–
bate is over. We must know. Our very
sm·vival
hangs in the balance as this
fundamental issue is weighed.
The crux of our inquiry will be:
What is the
HUMAN
mind? How
does it dilfer
fmm
ANJAfAL
brain?
Does human thought differ from animal
instinct in
degree
(
quantitatively) or in
kind
(
gualitatively) ?
What is the relationship between
man's mental activity and his physical
2
•
brain) What is "mind"? What is
"brain"? Are they exactly the same -
"the mind" being just another name for
"the brain"? Or are they different -
"the mind" being something
more
than
"the brain"?
These questions are crucial. And we
seek answers which are both scien–
tificaUy founded and philosophically
secure.
Overall Outline
We will investigare the relationship
between mind and brain by comparing
and contrasting human beings and ani–
mals. We will do this on two levels:
l)
mental activity;
2)
physiological brain.
In the remainder of this article and
also in next month's, we will analyze
the similarities and differences between
the
meutal aclivities
of humans and ani–
mals. For the remaining two articles, we
will analyze the similarities and differ–
ences between the
phpiological brains
of humans and animals. Finally, we
will put it all together by
correlating
the two - coming up with an answer
of enormous significance.
Present Objective
In
these 6Ist two articles, we focus
only on
011e par/
of the problem: We
compare the mental activities of humans
and animals. We ask the materialist's
favorite question -
"ls the hmna11
mind R.EALLY
dilferent from a11imal
brain?n
-
and proceed to detail a sci–
entifically rigorous answer. The qucs–
tion can be phrased
tn
a more