MATERIALISM (Emergent)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 2017 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented, Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
A theory that explains the relations between brain and mental states by considering the latter as a part of emerging states of the brain which however do not exist within the cerebral cells, the synapses, the dendrites or any other neural element (after R. RODRIGUEZ DELGADO, 1993a, p.258).
Mental activity depends upon the existence and good working order of the cerebral cortex: without this specific cerebral activity — different from the vegetative functions, which are controled by other parts of the brain — it cannot exist.
The Spanish neurologist J.M. RODRIGUEZ DELGADO lists as follows the essential conditions of mental activity:
- “1. A corporeal structure endowed with a normal physiology, able to provide oxygen, nutrients and other elements of cellular metabolism and able to eliminate the wastes.
- “2. Sensorial receptors, which are the exclusive entries for the information inputs from within or without the organism.
- “3. A functioning brain, endowed with the mechanisms needed for reception, circulation and emission of messages.
- “4. Organs able to receive and express the orders and messages of the brain” (1993, p.297-8).
According to J.M. RODRIGUEZ DELGADO, emergent materialism is the most flexible hypothesis and at the same time the most helpful one for research on mental phenomena in terms of usual scientific techniques.