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Does Star Trek solve the Mind-Body problem?


For those of you who are unaware of the mind-body problem, it is basically trying to determine how the mind connects with the body, and can lead on to 'what is the mind' and whether it is a physical object (note - this refers to the mind not the brain). As in Star Trek, one can use the transporters to transport a person from one position to another, and the person is perfectly intact, this implies that Star Trek solves the mind-body problem. Is this the case and, if so, what is the solution to it?



Answer




Star Trek embraces whatever philosophy is required to tell the current story.




  1. In the TOS episode "The Lights of Zetar" Enterprise encounters extant members of a dead civilization who existed for millennia as acorporeal minds searching for a suitable body in which to live out the remainder of their corporeal lives. This is an example of Cartesian or substance dualism.




  2. In the TNG episode "The Schizoid Man" cyberneticist Ira Graves flees his dying body and causes his mind to run on a new substrate, the positronic brain and body of Lt. Cmdr. Data. This is an example of monism, in particular, physicalism.




  3. On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, we learn on the existence of the Prophets, acorporeal entities that exist at least partly outside time itself, though they do inhibit material bodies from time to time. This is (probably) an example of idealistic monism.





  4. In the TOS episode "Turnabout Intruder", Janice Lester swaps ids with Captain Kirk, inhabiting his body while he inhabited hers. Substance dualism again.




  5. In the TOS episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" Roger Corby transfers his mind to run on a new substrate: an android body. Physicalism again.




  6. In the movie The Search for Spock we learn that Spock's katra, whatever that is, was deposited into Dr. McCoy to be later extracted by some mystical process. This is an example of property dualism.





If there's a mind-body philosophy that Star Trek has not yet embraced, give them time.


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