Forms of life, forms of mind

One (currently un-popular) view in philosophy of mind and cognitive science is that of interactionist dualism: the proposal that the mind is a radically different thing than physical objects and forces, but that it interacts with the physical brain and body to make a functional, causal difference in behavior. I will comment on mind-brain issues more in forthcoming work (for now, the closest is the latter part of this talk), but meanwhile I wanted to provide some resources for a specific aspect of this set of ideas: the argument that interaction is impossible because it would violate energy conservation. In other words, if physics describes all of the interactions between particles in the brain, how can an immaterial mind make a difference to what happens in the biochemistry of the brain without running afoul of the energy accounting at the microscale? I mention this now because a set of fascinating papers by Tom Froese on Irruption Theory is bringing up relevant questions and it may be useful for people to see the thought that has, over the last few decades, attempted to deal with the problem of interactionism (and specifically, of energy conservation).

There is of course this classic, by Popper and Eccles (text here), and its review by Norman Geschwind, as well as a couple of other good books here and here. More resources here. But, since these papers are much harder to find, here is a list of papers on this topic: (scroll down for downloadable list)

1.         Seager, W., Panpsychism and Energy Conservation Mind and Matter, 2022. 20(1): p. 17-34.

2.         White, B., Conservation Laws and Interactionist Dualism. The Philosophical Quarterly, 2016. 67(267): p. 387-405.

3.         Helfrich, W., Is the psychokinetic effect as found with random noise generators suitable to account for mind-brain interaction? Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2007. 21(4): p. 689-705.

4.         Montero, B., What does the conservation of energy have to do with physicalism? Dialectica, 2006. 60(4): p. 383-96.

5.         Libet, B., Reflections on the interaction of the mind and brain. Prog Neurobiol, 2006. 78(3-5): p. 322-6.

6.         Burns, J.E., The Arrow of Time and the Action of the Mind at the Molecular Level, in Frontiers of Time, D.P. Sheehan, Editor. 2006, Melville: New York. p. 75-88.

7.         Bosch, H., F. Steinkamp, and E. Boller, Examining Psychokinesis: The Interaction of Human Intention With Random Number Generators- A Meta-Analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 2006. 132(4): p. 497-523.

8.         Schwartz, J.M., H.P. Stapp, and M. Beauregard, Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neurophysical model of mind-brain interaction. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 2005. 360(1458): p. 1309-27.

9.         Thaheld, F., Biological nonlocality and the mind-brain interaction problem: comments on a new empirical approach. Biosystems, 2003. 70(1): p. 35-41.

10.       Burns, J.E., Quantum fluctuations and the action of the mind. Noetic Journal, 2002. 3(4): p. 312-17.

11.       Burns, J.E., The effect of ordered air molecules on a tumbling cube. Noetic Journal, 2002. 3(4): p. 330-9.

12.       Burns, J.E., The tumbling cube and the action of the mind. Noetic Journal, 2002. 3(4): p. 318-29.

13.       Wilson, D.L., Mind-brain interaction and violation of physical laws. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1999. 6(8-9): p. 185-200.

14.       Stapp, H.P., Attention, intention, and will in quantum physics. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1999. 6(8-9): p. 143-164.

15.       Mohrhoff, U., The physics of interactionism. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1999. 6(8-9): p. 165-184.

16.       Burns, J.E., Volition and physical laws. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1999. 6(10): p. 27-47.

17.       Arnette, J.K., The Theory of Essence. III: Neuroanatomical and Neurophysiological Aspects of Interactionism. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 1999. 18(2): p. 73-.

18.       Mohrhoff, U., Interactionism, energy conservation, and the violation of physical laws. Physics Essays, 1997. 10(4): p. 651–665.

19.       Beck, F., Mind-brain interaction: comments on an article by B.I.B. Lindahl & P. Arhem. J Theor Biol, 1996. 180(1): p. 87-9.

20.       Lindahl, B.I. and P. Arhem, Mind as a force field: comments on a new interactionistic hypothesis. J Theor Biol, 1994. 171(1): p. 111-22.

21.       Libet, B., A testable field theory of mind-brain interaction. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1994. 1: p. 119-126.

22.       Stokes, D., Mind, matter, and death. Journal of the American Society for Psychical research, 1993. 87: p. 41-84.

23.       Stapp, H.P., Mind, matter, and quantum mechanics. 1993, New York: Springer-Verlag.

24.       Larmer, R., Mind-body interaction and the conservation of energy. International Philosophical Quarterly, 1986. 26: p. 277-285.

25.       Stapp, H., Mind, Matter, and Quantum Mechanics. Foundations of Physics, 1982. 12(4): p. 363-399.

26.       Mattuck, R., A crude model of the mind-matter interaction using Bohm-Bub hidden variables. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 1982. 51(790): p. 238-245.

27.       Averill, E. and B.F. Keating, Does interactionism violate a law of classical physics? Mind, 1981. XC: p. 102-107.

28.       Bass, L., A quantum mechanical mind-body interaction. Foundations of Physics, 1975. 5(1): p. 159-172.

29.       Ullman, M., Mind over Matter – Psychokinesis – book review. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1971. 127(8): p. 1109-1110.

And here is the list of papers in a RIS format suitable for import into many reference manager programs:

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