Mental state = brain state?

[angeleyes]

I'll let the highly educated dudes Mark1031 and Fifty discuss this topic in another thread, here we will decide the matter with a poll.
But seriously, in my own simple worldview the two are meant the same but viewed from a different perspective. Mental states are viewed from inside, brain states are the same states but viewed from outside.

Please tell me here what's your opinion on this matter.

 

[El_Machinae]

Yes, with the caveat that there are sometimes things that happen in the brain that don't seem to change the mental state. The "mind" is merely a subset phenomenon of the brain. We just think the mind is spiffy and so give it more status than we really should.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

We probably think the mind is spiffy because the mind is who we are. The brain is an organ, the mind is a person.

 

[Perfection]

I wouldn't make the equation.

A sapient AI wouldn't have a brain (though it would have something similar) but it would have mental states.

Worms have brains (and hence brain states) but not minds.

 

[Mark1031]

It depends on what the meaning of is is.

 

[angeleyes]

It depends on what the meaning of is is.

My eyes see the chair i'm sitting on, my hands can feel the chair. Complete different sensations, but same chair, approached from different angles. The chair touched by the hand is the same as the chair touched by my eyes.

Substitute chair by brain/mind, and looking and touching by the neuroscientist - and the philosophers approach. If you think the two chairs are identical, then brain is identical with the mind.

Where do i go wrong?

 

[dot]

Isn't that pretty much as if you were saying ...

Software = Hardware

?

But I ain't no native speaker. So I might be entirely mistaken.

 

[Mise]

I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you explain what you mean by "mental state" and "brain state" please?