"Mind is what brain does": The History of Mind/Brain Problem

           Scholars who lived during ancient civilization conceived of mind as that deriving from 'Heart.' Therefore, when ancient Greek mummified human body, they would get all the intestines out to put them in canopic jars, while mummifying the heart with the body and simply throwing out the brain. They thought of heart as playing the most important role in human mind, soul and thought process. The great Aristotles(BC 384~BC 322) basically agreed to the concept, although he claimed that brain acts as a 'cooler' for one's passionate heart. Galen(130-200 AD), on the other hand, suggests a progressed version of Aristotles's theory. He asserted that one's spirit is emitted from heart, but the brain makes the spirit noble. As the time went by, Leonardo Da Vinci(1452~1519) came up the table and claimed the 'ventricals(a cavity within the human brain)' to be the place where spirit is conserved. It can be assumed that Da Vinci was one of the first person in the history to think of brain as an organ in which the complex spiritual activities takes place, although he was a little sloppy. Until this time people thought that mind and body are completely separate things. No one investigated the link between the brain and mind.
           It was only when Rene Descartes(1596~1650) appeared when people started to question about the link between brain and mind. He presented people with his famous statement "The mind and the body are separate yet intertwined.(Dualism)" Although his theory still lacked in sophistication, his theory was enough to inspire other scientists. A few decades later, Franz Gall, a german neuroanatomist (1758~1828) suggested a pioneering, yet rather less scientic theory. He was a pioneer in an aspect that he thought of  brain as the 'organ' of mind. He then later on invented a new study called 'Phrenology,' which tried to figure out which part of the brain stimulates what specific feeling. What made his fame fade away a little was that he also suggested that by examining the bumps of one's brain, people can easily find out the characteristics and the mental abilities of a person. Of course, this theory has now become a history.
         With the hint from Franz Gall that brain is localized in its functions, Karl Lashley(1890~1959) suggested that cortex seems to be responsible for 'learning'. Paul Broca(1824~1880) also did his job. He had a patient whose name was Monsieur Leborgne. The thing is, the patient suffered from only being able to say "tan," but no other words. Yet, he could understand all that's being said by others. After the death of the patient, Paul Broca did an autopsy on the patient and found out that the patient had a lesion in the left frontal region(later on named as 'Broca's area'). He could then figure out that the left frontal region is a crucial part for creation of a language. After then, other scientists started to conduct lesion experiment to know the function of each brain part.
          Thesedays, thanks to the day-to-day improving science technology, neuroscientists have become able to 'see' with the machine like EEG, MRI, PET, fMRI, and etc, what parts of brain are activated when a person is conducting a specific behavior, cognition, or processing specific thoughts. With the help of such technologies, neuroscientists are being capable of investigating more and more about the relationship between mind and brain. The conclusion they have come to now is that the mind and brain are much more related than people previously thought, and that mind and emotion themselves could even merely be a combination of activities of the brain. Also that several parts of the brain act together when creating specific behaviors or the thought processes, which mean that the brain is much more complicated an organ than we thought. In a nutshell, the contemporary science is suggesting that "The Mind is what Brain does."

Picture Reference:

Franz Gall's brain model: All functions of the brain are localized

 An excerpt that will blow your mind!
"Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter, and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations. And by this, in an especial manner, we acquire wisdom and knowledge, and see and hear and know what are foul and what are fair, what are bad and what are good, what are sweet, and what are unsavory. ... And by the same organ we become mad and delirious, and fears and terrors assail us. ... All these things we endure from the brain."
                -On the Sacred Disease published in the 5th century B.C by Hippocrates, the father of Medicine.

Gosh, there's always a genius who is way ahead of their time.

Next: How are mind and brain related? (As a form of a review on BBC documentary 'Brain Story')