Mind-body unity, dual aspect, and the emergence of consciousness

Dual aspect theory has conceptual advantages over alternative mind-body not ions, but difficulties of its own. The nature of the underlying psychophysi cal ground, for one, remains problematic either in terms of the principle o f complementarity or if mind and matter are taken to be aspects of somethin g like energy, movement, or information. Moreover, for a dual aspect theory to be Plausible it should avoid the four perils of all mind-body theories: epiphenomenalism, reductionism, gross panpsychism, and the problems of eme rgence. An alternative dual aspect theory, patterned process theory, is int roduced and defended in neurological and individuality terms. The concept i s grounded in a brain model of hierarchies wherein consciousness is conceiv ed to be a cognitive aspect of the highest emergent brain inter-module acti vity, which is situated in the context of a living organism coping With a c hanging enviroment. The notion of individuals as psychophysical units unfol ding as patterned processes is shown to constitute an integrative approach to brain, consciousness, and behavior that can avoid the conceptual perils and meet the ontological requirements of dual aspect reality and thereby ad vance the foundations of an integrative mind-body science.