Question

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RICHARD

ARE MENTAL DISORDERS A LOGICAL OXYMORON FALLACY?

ARE MENTAL DISORDERS A LOGICAL OXYMORON FALLACY?
THE MIND IS A PHILOSOPHICAL CONSTRUCT
DRUGS ARE PHYSICAL
HUM??
asked on Wednesday, Sep 18, 2019 01:35:51 AM by RICHARD

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Answers

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Bo Bennett, PhD
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Hi Richard,

This wouldn't be a fallacy because it is not at all related to argumentation. You are alluding to the mind-body problem in philosophy, which is indeed an interesting discussion.

{date-time stamp}Thursday, Sep 19, 2019 05:28 AM{/date-time stamp}

I received this anonymous comment:

HA!! TOO AFRAID TO ADMIT TRUTH HEY??



I found this to be a very strange response to my answer. The truth is that this still isn't a fallacy . I have a feeling the commenter wants to get into a philosophical debate of the mind-body problem and this simply isn't the forum for that. I have written about this topic several times when discussing freewill in my books where the discussion was appropriate, but... The bottom line is that the mind is a function of the physical brain. When we make physical changes to the brain (via surgery, physical injury, or drugs) the mind is often affected (alcohol and recreational drugs demonstrate this perfectly well). If there is any "truth" that people like to avoid, it is that the body follows deterministic laws with the chance of some quantum indeterminacy (not "freewill") and the mind simply responds after-the-fact giving us the illusion of control (closes the can of worms).
answered on Wednesday, Sep 18, 2019 05:02:54 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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Bill
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1. Dr. Bo's point is a good one. Here's an article in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

https://www.iep.utm.edu/mental-i/

2. Also, there is an argument made by some authorities that mental illnesses are at least partly of biological origin. Here's one point of view:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00521-2

And here is another. This article is very technical but is available at university libraries.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5887839/
answered on Wednesday, Sep 18, 2019 10:33:35 AM by Bill

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