MIND AS A FORCE-FIELD - COMMENTS ON A NEW INTERACTIONISTIC HYPOTHESIS

The survival and development of consciousness in biological evolution call for an explanation. An interactionistic mind-brain theory seems t o have the greatest explanatory value in this context. An interpretati on of an interactionistic hypothesis, recently proposed by Karl Popper , is discussed both theoretically and based on recent experimental dat a. In the interpretation, the distinction between the conscious mind a nd the brain is seen as a division into what is subjective and what is objective, and not as an ontological distinction between something im material and something material. The interactionistic hypothesis is ba sed on similarities between minds and physical forces. The conscious m ind is understood to interact with randomly spontaneous spatio-tempora l patterns of action potentials through an electromagnetic field. Cons equences and suggestions for future studies are discussed.