VI. Summary
Hypothesis 22
The evolution of brain and mind
Rail journey to Lake Titicaca, Peru
The task at hand was to present the evolution of the mind in accordance with Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Previous attempts at solutions based on the co-evolution of brain and mind have been rejected because the mind assumes the brain has already been completed developed (both factually and temporally). In addition, the emergent qualities of the human mind still cannot play a role on the biological level of brain development.
The proposed solution is based on a succession of the evolution of brain and mind. The development of the brain with the stages of prenatal growth, postnatal growth, and the networked brain can be plausibly explained based on the Darwinian theory of evolution without using the influence of mental or cultural factors as a justification.
The influence of the mind would then be an additional and not necessarily an explanatory cause to be rejected according to the principle of Ockham’s razor.