Abstract

Psychomotor phenomena such as catatonia or Parkinson's disease are shown to be paradigmatic examples of functional brain organization and mind-brain relationship. First psycho-motor relationships in both diseases are described on a phenomenological level , emphasizing motor similarities and mental differences. The next section, relying on various results in recent neuroimaging and on the concept of functional systems, elucidates various principles of functional brain organization (parallel-distributed, se rial-hierachical, context-dependence, functional knots, functional circuitry) by means of psychological and physiological alterations in both diseases. The final section discusses the neurophilosophical implications of functional brain organization for th e question of the mind-brain relationship. The ontological neutrality of the different ways of description of mental states (phenomenal, psychological, functional, physiological) is pointed out. Furthermore the various kinds of potential fallacies (condit ional, ontological, epistemological), which should be avoided, are discussed. It is concluded that for a deeper understanding of the mind-brain relationship, further elaboration and definition of the terms brain and brain function with the consecutive dev elopment of a "philosophy of the brain" is warranted.

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