As philosophers, our aim is always to search for the truth in all sorts of areas of life.

Our latest A-Level unit of work has involved trying to get to the truth about what our minds are. So, here’s a philosophical question for you:

What is “the mind”? Is it just your brain? Is the essence of our existence literally just a load of electrical signals in neurons and chemical reactions? Is that ultimately what our thoughts and feelings are? Or is there more to being a human than our physical brains/bodies? Is there a non-physical part of us - a soul/mind? Many people might scoff at such an idea but science and logic is far from conclusively proving that we are just our physical brains/bodies. Indeed, you might not realise it, but we believe in a lot of non-physical things. We believe in beauty, justice, morality, logic, truth, and maths - none of which are physical. I can ask you to show me a cat and you could pick one up with your hands. But if I were to ask you to show me “wrongness” or “justice” you couldn’t point to it physically existing. So maybe it’s not crazy to think that we have a non-physical mind that is attached to and interacts with our brains/bodies?

One of the problems with trying to define the mind in terms of it being a physical or non-physical substance is that no single theory is watertight. To get round this problem a new theory for defining the mind has been proposed: functionalism. Functionalism argues that the best way to define/understand the mind is through looking at how it functions and not focusing on what it is or isn’t made of.

Just over a week ago, the U6^th Form finished the entire A-Level Philosophy course, of which functionalism was the last topic. I tasked pupils with summarising the theory and two criticisms of it through whatever means they wanted. Imogen (U6^th Form, Arion House) decided to make the most amazing video hand drawn time-lapse animation. She has gone way above and beyond what the other pupils chose to do. Her video contains her writing by hand the key elements of the theory and its issues, alongside drawing some amazing diagrams and illustrations which really bring the theory to life. The depth of detail Imo goes into is highly impressive. This is one of the hardest topics in Philosophy and Imo has shown how well she has mastered it and has created a video which explains it with such confidence, depth of detail and clarity.

I am thoroughly impressed and delighted that the Headmaster has agreed to award her a Headmaster’s Distinction.

George Beverly - Head of Philosophy & Chaplain

Watch the video below.