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(1992) Ernst Mach — a deeper look, Dordrecht, Springer.
"Thought is related to the brain like gall to the liver and urea to the kidney." Thus runs the famous materialistic line. Lotze has commented to the contrary in striking fashion that he would never have believed that thought could have originated in such a deeply poetical way had this saying not been so exactly proven. The above line rests indeed upon the entirely correct observation that psychical and physical processes stand in very close relation to each other. Nevertheless, it doesn"t require deep thought in order to find the hitch in the figure of speech. Thinking is no secret. No one has yet discovered a thought-fistula like one finds urine-fistulas and gall-fistulas. One cannot say that thoughts are physical processes in the brain. If we examine physical processes very carefully, we indeed find molecular movement, but no thoughts. Electrical currents in the brain are definitely different than the green color which perhaps represents them when the subject is examined. They are our representations when we examine the brain, and not those of the examined brain.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-011-2771-4_5
Full citation:
Mach, E. (1992)., Philosophical documents, in J. Blackmore (ed.), Ernst Mach — a deeper look, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 111-126.
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