The Mind and the Brain / Being the Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps

The author presents a sustained analysis distinguishing mind and matter, arguing that external reality is apprehended only through sensations and that the nervous system both mediates and contributes its own sensory effects. He critiques mechanical and energetic models as symbolic constructions, then defines core mental phenomena—sensation, image, emotion, consciousness, and the unconscious—and probes whether consciousness can be separated from its objects. After examining definitions of psychology and surveying spiritualist, idealist, materialist, and parallelist accounts, he critiques modern variants and Bergson, then proposes a hypothesis that consciousness is conditioned by brain processes though the brain itself remains unconsciously functioning, explaining habit formation and the partial, dependent life of the mind.