Understanding the nature and connection between the mind and the body is less about finding one definite answer and more about the lasting implications that arise when probing into such a question. What does it mean to be a human being? Is humanness simply the body, or is it the desires and inclinations that make up our complex personalities? Are mind and soul one and the same? These questions arise in the Star Trek episode, “The Measure of a Man,” where Picard and Maddox view the same thing, Data, in two different ways. Maddox is initially guided by the the materialistic viewpoint of man being a material being and human only on the basis of being perceived as a human, while Picard believes that man is made human by the complexity of his soul and mind—which “cannot be fully comprehended by scientific study alone” (Hasker, 1983, p. 62) Ultimately, Maddox relinquishes his initially stubborn belief that Data was merely property and not human from a materialistic standpoint, and concedes alongside Picard that Data is indeed an entity deserving of the same respect that would be given to a human being—even if such a reality can neither be proven scientifically nor understood by the mind.
Maddox's initially materialistic view is demonstrated in both bold and discrete ways. First, Maddox never calls Data a “he,” but rather always refers to him as an “it.” To call Data a “he” would signify that he was equal to a human being, but referring to Data as “it” maintained his position in Maddox's eyes are merely a soulless machine. His desire to have Data disassembled for his own personal gain reveals the subtle hierarchy in which Maddox believes he is above Data. When Data resigns, the diligence with which Maddox tries to seize the right to refuse participation in the experiment exhibits Maddox's inability to view Data as a real person—perhaps even to no true fault of his own. The mind has a difficult time accepting that human beings may not be the only sentient beings, because the mind can sometimes believe that it is greater than nature itself. However nature remains mysterious, unable to be explained or understood by the mind. For this reason, Maddox is initially unable to accept the possibility of a man-made creation existing as something that Nature itself created. Simple appearances were not enough for Maddox to be convinced, regardless of how human-like the emotions and desires of Data appeared. He did not buy into the illusion that appearance is the only criteria necessary to decide whether something was sentient, but relied only on the fact that Data was not born from a human mother. Thus, the criteria of materialism was not fulfilled by this machine in Maddox's eyes, regardless of the fact that he clearly possessed distinct desires and valued not only his own life but the lives around him with which he was in close relationship with, such as his connection with Picard.
Captain Picard, on the other hand, viewed Data as being on the same level as a normal human officer, and treated him as such by defending his right to refuse participation in such an experiment. When Picard asks Maddox what constitutes a sentient being, Maddox's three-tiered response of intelligence, self-awareness and consciousness are subsequently used to actually prove Data's place as a respected officer of Starfleet, rather than merely machinery to be controlled. In fact, the fact that Data resigned from Starfleet shows all the more than Data is a being whose life is of great value to himself and which he is determined to defend until death. The true power in Picard's thinking, and the theory of dualism, is that it allows for the unexplainable rather than simply rule it out completely the way that materialism does. Dualism allows for both “the mind and the physical body exist and interact with each other” (Kelly, 2004, p. 87). When Picard says, “I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself,” we see that the greatest benefit to dualism, which lends this viewpoint more validity than its counterpart, is that it offers any entity the freedom to discover the truth for himself and thereby does not potentially deny the rights of someone who actually deserves them (Robert and Snodgrass, 1989). In fact, attempting to understand “how consciousness, feeling and other mental attributes arise from combinations of physical properties” may be a far less troublesome task than trying to understand the origin of the non-physical mind (Hasker, 1983, p. 70).
The question of mind and body is one that we will never find one absolute answer to, and this very “mysteriousness is inherent in the subject matter and is not just the result of confused or inadequate way of viewing it” (Hasker, 1983, p. 57). Ultimately, we witness through Maddox's change in perspective in regards to Data's “humanness” a showcasing of God himself and his infinitely unfathomable ways—particularly in the way that he maintains mystery while simultaneously creating perceptions within every human being that work together to create a seamless system that we call our human existence.
References
Hasker, W. (1983). Metaphysics: constructing a world view. Downers Grove, IL, U.S.A.: InterVarsity Press.
Kelly, E. (2004). The basics of western philosophy. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Robert, S. (Director, & Snodgrass, M. M. (Writer). (1989, February 13). The Measure of a Man [Television series episode]. In Star Trek: The Next Generation. Los Angeles, CA: Paramount Studios.
