Recently, Professor Jiang Ke from the School of Psychiatry of WMU published an academic paper From Function to Structure: A Reverse Solution to the Mind-Brain Problem as the first author in the domestically well-known journal Social Sciences in China (Vol. 43, No. 4, 2022), which marked the first paper of WMU published in Social Sciences in China.

Based on the tension and integration between cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology, this paper analyzes the rise and fall of physicalism versus mentalism in the past 100 years and defends an anti-reductionist ontology of the mind. This paper first demonstrates that "function precedes structure logically" and refutes two classical arguments about the mind-brain problem. The article proposes that if structure is considered as the logical premise of function, the discussion of mind-body problems will inevitably lead to dualism or reductionism. A structure cannot provide a generative explanation for itself; instead, the principle of "ladder of explanation" can be satisfied if function is taken as the starting point of explanation and logically precedes structure. The higher-level theory can explain the lower-level observed facts and the lower-level observed facts are the cognitive starting point of forming a theory through induction. The paper concludes that function precedes structure logically. Therefore, "the mind shapes the brain" logically. The logical sequence from function to structure is a reverse solution to the mind-brain problem.

Social Sciences in China, a quarterly journal sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is the most important comprehensive English academic journal of philosophy and social sciences in China. It was first published in 1980. It introduces to overseas readers the academic achievements, theoretical developments, and research information in Chinese philosophy and social sciences, promotes international cultural exchanges, and plays an important role in the development of China's modernization and the prosperity of Chinese humanities and social sciences. The publication of Professor Jiang Ke's article has enhanced the international influence of WMU in philosophy and social sciences and promoted the international communication of WMU’s research results in psychology.

Text translated by Cai Lingchen and reviewed by Sun You