The mind body problem and the second law of thermodynamics

Biology and Philosophy 2 (3):271-275 (1987)
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Abstract

Cartesian mind body dualism and modern versions of this viewpoint posit a mind thermodynamically unrelated to the body but informationally interactive. The relation between information and entropy developed by Leon Brillouin demonstrates that any information about the state of a system has entropic consequences. It is therefore impossible to dissociate the mind's information from the body's entropy. Knowledge of that state of the system without an energetically significant measurement would lead to a violation of the second law of thermodynamics.

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Citations of this work

Causal closure of the physical, mental causation, and physics.Dejan R. Dimitrijević - 2019 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (1):1-22.
Causal closure of the physical, mental causation, and physics.Dejan R. Dimitrijević - 2019 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (1):1-22.
Letter to the editor.John D. Collier - 1988 - Biology and Philosophy 3 (4):501-503.

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References found in this work

The Self and its brain.K. Popper & J. Eccles - 1986 - Revista de filosofía (Chile) 27:167-171.
Science and information theory.Léon Brillouin - 1956 - Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications.
The miracle of existence.Henry Margenau - 1984 - Boston: New Science Library.
The Self and its Brain.K. R. Popper & J. Eccles - 1977 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 84 (2):259-260.

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