Abstract

The idea that the brain has mental properties is widely accepted among psychologists and cognitive scientists. Nevertheless, mental properties are usually attributed to persons. This paper aims at elucidating the reasons why, in various contexts, attributing psychological properties to the brain seems the natural thing to do. It also insists that the very idea of locating thoughts is pointless: expressions such as thinking in the head, calculating in the head should not be understood as mentioning locations. Furthermore, the paper tries to show that many proposed solutions to the mind/brain problem are misguided by the belief that the brain thinks and suggests a different answer to this problem, inspired by several remarks by Wittgenstein and by Kenny’s distinction between mental abilities and their vehicle. In many respects, this answer is more a dissolution than a solution to the problem.