This is only true if you subscribe to a dualist view of humanity, that is that the body is a separate thing from the mind. But there is also a monist way to look at it, that the body and the mind are one.
The totality of a human being can’t be separated into body and mind in a practical way. What about the senses which are both a bodily and a psychological function? What about emotions that are definitely felt both in the psyche and in the body? When I am tried I can’t think well, when I am depressed it’s harder to perform a bench press than when I am not depressed.
We are not just the brain. That’s a reductive way to look at human being. The ancient philosophers knew this, after all, mens sana in corpore sano.
both in the psyche and in the body? When I am tried I can’t think well, when I am depressed it’s harder to perform a bench press than when I am not depressed.
Note however that those are both examples related to brain chemistry. OP’s meme seems to be pointing more toward the fact that it’s easy to see why people who lose a finger or who can’t move their bodies at all are still people, whereas that claim is more difficult to lay on bodies of people with no brain activity. Of course brain and body are linked but I’d argue that the “brain pilot model” is more accurate than “body and brain are inseparable in any practical sense” because you can lose pieces of the body while still retaining core elements of self, but that doesn’t work so well when losing parts of the brain.
Our present domination global culture is biased to place a higher value on brain vs. body function— see eg someone “declared ‘brain-dead’”…
… or in a coma.
People w damaged or missing body parts will say that they no longer feel like themselves
This is only true if you subscribe to a dualist view of humanity, that is that the body is a separate thing from the mind. But there is also a monist way to look at it, that the body and the mind are one.
The totality of a human being can’t be separated into body and mind in a practical way. What about the senses which are both a bodily and a psychological function? What about emotions that are definitely felt both in the psyche and in the body? When I am tried I can’t think well, when I am depressed it’s harder to perform a bench press than when I am not depressed.
We are not just the brain. That’s a reductive way to look at human being. The ancient philosophers knew this, after all, mens sana in corpore sano.
Note however that those are both examples related to brain chemistry. OP’s meme seems to be pointing more toward the fact that it’s easy to see why people who lose a finger or who can’t move their bodies at all are still people, whereas that claim is more difficult to lay on bodies of people with no brain activity. Of course brain and body are linked but I’d argue that the “brain pilot model” is more accurate than “body and brain are inseparable in any practical sense” because you can lose pieces of the body while still retaining core elements of self, but that doesn’t work so well when losing parts of the brain.
Counterpoint
Our present domination global culture is biased to place a higher value on brain vs. body function— see eg someone “declared ‘brain-dead’”… … or in a coma.
People w damaged or missing body parts will say that they no longer feel like themselves