The Physical Basis of Mind

The classic modern statement of the dual-aspect monist approach to the mind/body relation in which mind and body are viewed as different aspects of one and the same series of psychophysical events. In arguing that mental and physical terms are not intertranslatable, Lewes transferred the domain of mind/body discourse from metaphysics to scientific language and provided psychology with what is still the best argument against extreme reductionism and the replacement of psychology by physiology.

GEORGE HENRY LEWES (1817-1878) was a British philosopher, scientist, novelist and literary critic. He founded a radical weekly called The Leader, and wrote several books including Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences, Ranthorpe, Problems of Life and Mind, and Life of Works of Goethe. Lewes is also known for his decades-long relationship with the novelist Mary Ann Evans (better known under her pen name George Eliot.)