The mind-body problem concerns how, if at all, the mind and body interact, given that the mind and body do exist in the first place. To answer this question is simple, but to accompany the belief with a sound argument is very difficult. Two very broad conceptualizations of this particular philosophy (monism and dualism) define the most inclusive positions of this argument.

Monists believe that only one type of substance (mind or matter) makes up existence.  Monist theories such as idealism and epiphenomenalism hold the mind as the only substance forming reality. Other monist theories, including identity theory, behaviorism, and functionalism, center upon the belief that matter is the sole element. The mind-body problem is eliminated if it is believed that only one of these substances exists. This implies that there is no interaction between the mind and body because only one of them exists.

It is the dualist that is challenged by the mind-body problem. Dualist philosophers believe that there exists a mind and a body (the latter being matter), but the way in which, if at all, they interact is disputed. Interactionism, parallelism, occasionalism, and pre-established harmony are illustrative examples of dualism. It is the task of the dualist to very clearly explain all matters dealing with this complicated theory.

Proponents of idealism (a monist theory) attempt to explain everything in terms of consciousness. Idealists believe that reality consists of ideas or perceptions and that there are no physical characteristics of existence. Bishop George Berkeley, the founder of idealism, wrote that we do not perceive the physical world directly because there simply is no physical world. According to Berkeley, what we do experience is our sensations, but this is simply not enough. Consider the schizophrenic whose mental experiences consist of various hallucinations and delusions. A patient such as this may strongly believe that he is, for example, God. Of course, in the reality of those who are not schizophrenic this is absurd. What must be considered is that these are two very different realities, yet both are very real as well. If the mind is the only reality, as idealists hold, then the schizophrenic really is God in his own reality. Of course, in the reality of the normal individual, the patient is seen simply as mentally disturbed.

Berkeley addressed the issue of free will as well. He claimed that we do not produce our own sensations, but that God puts sensations into our minds. With this, Berkeley completely eliminates the possibility of free will. Instead he was left with determinism.  Thus he proposed that God telepathically controls humans. If this were true, then Berkeley's God must have made humans liars, rapists, and murderers through His own will.

A second monist theory is epiphenomenalism, founded by Thomas Huxley. An epiphenomenalist believes that the brain causes mental events, but those mental events cannot cause behavior. In this view, mental events are neurological by-products and are behaviorally impertinent. When considering the effect of the drug Roofies on a person, a problem arises with epiphenomenalism. When ingested, Roofies molecules reach the brain and alter an individual's mental state making the person sexually aroused. This, in turn, is believed to be the cause of the person's pursuit of sexually fulfilling activities. Thus, the mental state of being sexually aroused does give rise to the sexual pursuits of the individual. In this example, which is contrary to epiphenomenalism, mental states do cause behavior.

Epiphenomenalism, just as idealism, precludes the possibility of free will. If the environment causes brain activity and brain processes dictate our behavior, then humans simply exist passively and in a state of powerlessness. Thus, according to this theory, humans have no free will.

Materialism, a subcategory of monism, contains three additional mind-body theories. Materialism defines reality as consisting of only matter. This excludes the mind from contributing to one's reality. The materialist theories are identity theory, behaviorism, and functionalism.

Identity theory states that the mind is created from the interaction of the brain and the central nervous system. That is, the mind is equivalent to both the brain and the central nervous system. The mind, according to the identity theory, is a by-product of biochemical processes conducted by the brain. This would imply that the brain possesses somewhat of a physical nature. If the mind is made of something physical, even though it cannot be seen, it still may have physical properties. Water, for instance, is a physical substance. When water evaporates and changes into a gas, it cannot be seen. Yet, the water molecules in the air are still in a physical state, namely in hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Similarly, our mind cannot be seen with the human eye, though it is made from a physical substance, namely the brain.

It is plain to see that the identity theory leaves humans with no free will. The body is controlled by nature, as are all physical substances. If the brain produces the mind, then the mind is controlled by nature as well. Thus, both the body and the mind are controlled by nature and have no free will.

B.F. Skinner was the father of eliminative materialism, or modern behaviorism. Skinner contested that it is impossible for the mind to account for reality because the mind does not refer to anything. To Skinner, the mind can never be the cause of an individual's experience because there simply is no mind. The sole mechanism that can cause a person to experience anything is the body. Consider, for example, when an individual becomes intoxicated. Skinner said that it is physiological changes in the brain only that account for this drunkenness. Similarly, the actual feeling of being drunk can also be traced to brain processes. When an individual consumes alcohol, the alcohol molecules enter the brain, specifically the cerebellum. When the cerebellum, the part of the brain responsible for balance, is saturated with enough alcohol, equilibrium becomes unstable and the feeling of drunkenness ensues. According to Skinner, we would be more correct to say that our cerebellum is drenched in alcohol than to say we feel drunk. To simply say we feel drunk explains nothing.

To demonstrate an oversight in this theory, the concept of consciousness will be considered, although Skinner would have strictly forbidden this. When driving an automobile on a busy highway, it is the responsibility of the driver to be aware of his entire environment. The driver must dedicate his consciousness as a whole to the driving situation at hand. That is, the individual must actively observe every car on the road, every tree, every pedestrian, the position of his car on the road, several different road signs, the present speed of his car, and the like. Of course all of these objects cannot be observed simultaneously. An individual must actively direct his consciousness to one object at a time. When a person is able to redirect attention from one object to another, there is an argument for the existence of a mind, or consciousness.

According to behaviorism, the brain has complete control over what the individual experiences. Thus, the brain and central nervous system determine the person's reality. That which is physical is controlled by and manipulated by nature. For example, the inward pulling of objects by gravity toward the earth's core. With the power of nature accounted for, we can say that behaviorism extinguishes the idea of free will. If nature has complete control over what determines our reality, specifically our brain and central nervous system, then we are ultimately controlled by nature and have no free will.

The third and final materialist theory, functionalism, was introduced by Hilary Putnam. A functionalist believes that mental states are defined in terms of what they do as opposed to their composition. If a nonphysical object can perform the same function as a physical object, then the nonphysical object exists. To illustrate this, the mind, a nonphysical object, and the brain, a physical object, will be compared. If the brain were presented input such as repeated blows to the head over several years, eventually enough substantia nigra neurons will die and the person will develop Parkinson's Disease. Similarly, if the mind were subjected to several years of mental abuse, such as accusations of worthlessness, the eventual result would be low self-esteem. The mind and the brain both receive input and produce output, performing the same function. This allows for the belief in the existence of the mind.

Furthermore, functionalists hold that mental states can actually interact with one another. The low self-esteem produced by years of mental abuse can interact with a person's mood, such as depression, and create a feeling of helplessness. This theory gives the individual power over one's mental states because it allows the individual to arrange and rearrange various mental states and to think about the product. Thus, functionalism grants the individual free will.

Contrary to monist philosophers, dualists state that there exist mental and physical events and that they both contribute to reality. Instead of dealing with either matter or mind, as monism does, dualism incorporates both concepts. Dualistic theories include interactionism, parallelism, occasionalism, and pre-established harmony.

The philosophy of interactionism was introduced by French Philosopher Rene Descartes. Interactionists claim that the mind and body interact with one another. That is, the mind influences the body and the body influences the mind. Some psychologists, such as Joseph Breuer, were interactionists.

Joseph Breuer, demonstrated the interaction between the mind and body in his most famous case, which involved a woman named Anna O. Anna came to Breuer with a multitude of unexplainable symptoms ranging from speech impairment to distorted vision to memory loss. There was no known cause for this sudden onset of physical disturbances that science could explain at the time. As the case went on, it became apparent that Anna had not sufficiently coped with the death of her father. She repressed, and in some cases, suppressed, unwanted feelings into her unconscious that, in turn, caused her physical symptoms. These symptoms disappeared when she began to talk about and discover her hidden feelings. This example supports Descartes theory of interactionism. The mental state that Anna O. experienced led to her physical symptoms.  Further, dealing with the repressed feelings resulted in a resolution of her physical symptoms.

A problem with interactionism arises when the nature of the mind and body are considered. The mind is nonphysical and the body is physical.  Interaction between a nonphysical and a physical object is impossible for a nonphysical object holds no place in space.

The theory of interactionism makes the issue of free will very complex. An explanation can be construed based on what is evident. Interactionists argue that body and mind interact, affecting one another, but where does nature fit into this?  Nature has its effects only on the physical world, namely the body. The mind cannot be affected by nature because the mind consists of nothing. Therefore, nature has its effect on the body, and the body has its effect on the mind. It is from this reaction that the mind can affect the body. The view that a person's reality is nothing more than a chain reaction leaves little evidence that humans have free will.

The second branch of dualism is parallelism. Proponents of parallelism state that the mind and body do exist and are affected by the environment. Contrary to interactionism, the mind and body do not affect each other. This seems implausible considering knowledge of the interaction between nature and the physical and nonphysical world. The environment can affect the physical world because it consists of matter. It cannot affect the nonphysical world because the nonphysical world consists of nothing. Thus, if there is no link between the body and the mind, then the environment cannot influence the mind. Therefore, the mind is lifeless. When a muscle is thought of apart from any impulse to stimulate it, it is considered essentially nonexistent because it serves no function. Similarly, if the mind were cut off from its cause, it would be considered nonexistent because it would serve no function.

For the sake of argument, the mind will be considered able to exist as well as the body. In this situation, only the mind could have free will because it cannot be controlled by nature, as it is nonphysical. The body, in contrast, is influenced by nature and cannot have free will.  It is in effect controlled by the environment and its natural laws. The mind is free and unchained by the forces of nature. It is, in a sense, beyond reality.

Derived from parallelism, occasionalism was suggested by Nicholas Malebranche. Occasionalist philosophers hold that the mind and body do exist, but different from parallelism, God is the link between them. Malebranche said that when a desire occurs in the mind, it is God who makes the body react. Also, when the body is affected by environment, it is God who causes the corresponding mental experience. With this, Malebranche has solved the mind body problem. Only now he has to sufficiently argue for the existence of God. Until both the mind-body problem and the nature of God are properly explained, Malebranche's theory is no more convincing than the previous theories.

If occasionalism were considered plausible, then the issue of free will can be discussed. If the mind and body could interact only through God, then our reality is exclusively dependent upon what He lets us experience. The individual does not determine what they physically feel or mentally perceive. Therefore, occasionalism grants us no free will.

Finally, in the theory of pre-established harmony, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz stated that mental and physical experiences are preprogrammed by God and are in perfect synchrony with one another in time. To Leibniz, our entire life has been mapped out long before we take our first breath. What Leibniz did not take into consideration, however, was explaining our reality in the afterlife, or heaven. The mind and body depend upon each other to experience reality. If the body and mind are mutually interdependent, then they cannot be separated. Yet, in Christian theology, the soul (mind) leaves the body upon death and ascends to heaven. This leaves the mind without a physical correspondent with which to exist. Although, if the mind can exist in heaven without a body, then the idea of us ever having a body is pointless!

The implication of pre-established harmony on free will leaves us at the mercy of God's plan. Therefore, humans, according to Leibniz, have no free will. Our past, present, and future experiences have all been part of a divine plan, which was pre-established by God at the creation of the universe.
 

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