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The Meaning Of The Mind |
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Thomas Szasz is an atheist libertarian and not a Scientologist. He views schizophrenia as a behaviour choice, rejects all physical etiologies of "insanity" and is opposed to all involuntary commitment to mental hospitals. Thomas Szasz is an honorable warrior for truth whose importance will only be recognized in coming decades. |
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In this book, Thomas tackles the central element of psychiatry: what is the mind. Chemical psychiatrists who are both atheistic and believe evolution by random chance processes is how man became what he is ontologically today, have no other choice but to equate the mind with the physical processes in the human brain. From an ameba in the to monkey to man, ultimately the atheist has no other choice but to conclude that the mind/personhood, is something that is generated by physical elements. All behaviour is caused by mechanical processed in the brain and drugs are an appropriate fix. The Christian takes the opposite view. The mind and memory have their origin in God and are not part of the 118 elements of the periodic table. Luke 16:21 proves that when we die we carry our person hood, memories and "mind" with us, in spite of the fact our physical brains are destroyed.
It is predictable that Thomas Szasz, as an atheist, would conclude that the mind does not exist as a noun (person, place or thing) but that we engage in what he calls "minding". Quite surprising, he strongly rejects the idea that the brain and the "minding" are the same thing. He strongly opposes chemical psychiatrists for equating the mind with the brain. This leads him to reject drugs as a fix of [mythical] "chemical imbalances" in the brain as a fix for misbehavior (what others wrongly label insanity).
"There are many reasons why people fabricate false memories: because dramatic accusations, especially of sexual wrongdoing, attract attention and are sources of fame and money; because revenge is sweet; because people have a need to explain their unexplained emotional distress, the greater the distress, the greater the need for a spectacular "cause"; because human beings have a penchant for attributing their evil impulses to Others; and because, as I noted, psychiatrists stand ready to relieve people of responsibility for their behavior—including the responsibility to verify, for themselves, whether others are telling the truth or not." (The Meaning of the Mind, Thomas Szasz, 1996 AD, p 65)
"Because nouns such as "bug" or "hug" name real objects or events, we understand that "bugging" a person means annoying him, and that hugging him means giving him a hug; and because the noun "mind" names a fictitious object, we misunderstand "minding" as using our "mind." But we have no minds. Instead, we, qua living persons, mind. How and what we mind is who we are. Minding is quintessentially our own business." (The Meaning of the Mind, Thomas Szasz, 1996 AD, p 17)
By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
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