Why the Mind Has a Body

The reader will find in this book (1) a sketch of an explanation of the connection of mind and body; (2) a proposal, based thereon, for a settlement of the controversy between the parallelists and the inter-actionists.(1) The explanation of the connection of mind and body is not in substance new. It is that which is implied in the pangsychism of Fechner and Clifford. Brief expositions of it have been given by Paulsen in his Einldtung in die Philosophic-indeed, to Paulsen I owe ray first acquaintance with it - and, more recently, by Stout in the chapter "Body and Mind" of his Manual. What specially characterizes my treatment of the matter is the detailed working-out of the conception in terms of the hypothesis of mental causality. I have also set forth somewhat elaborately the scientific and metaphysical premises on which it rests.Perhaps owing to the brevity with which it has been presented, this explanation has thus far attracted little attention. Most philosophical writers seem not to have grasped it. They are accustomed to treat the connection of mind and body as inexplicable.