Summary
As a preface to the mind-body problem, this paper proposed three assumptions basic to the issue. The assumptions referred to the number of basic events, the method of organization, and the nature of the basic events or substances. An approach to the mind-body problem was proposed in terms of a position on each of the three assumptions. This approach was applied to clinical practice on the strong presumption that mind-body approaches have striking implications for the operations of the clinician. Accordingly, implications were drawn from this approach and applied to the criteria and meaning of psychological and nonpsychological clinical events, the processes and occurrences of the human body from a strictly psychological viewpoint, the nature of psychological explanation of clinical events, the hierarchy of sciences, the relationships between psychological and nonpsychological concepts including the presumption of intermediating factors, and the nature of diagnostic rationale and procedure.
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The author is indebted to Drs. Richard Jessor, Michael Wertheimer, and Harl H. Young for their cogent suggestions and critical evaluation of this paper. An extended version of this paper was presented at the Fifth Inter-American Congress of Psychology, Mexico City, D. F., December, 1957.
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Mahrer, A.R. A preface to the mind-body problem. Psychol Rec 12, 53–60 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393440
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393440