The physiology of the brain…ignores the possessive-relationship; it replaces - generally without giving an account of it- my, your, or his [her] brain with a or with the brain…the reference to the possessive relationship may not be dismissed as a sentimental claim…the elimination of the possessive relationship distorts the phenomena, narrows down the problem area, and thus tacitly anticipates a theoretical judgment. If my, your, or his [her] brain is replaced by the brain, then the brain is generally viewed not as an organ of an experiencing being, but rather as a steering apparatus of a movable body…In every anatomical and physiological observation of the brain, two brains are involved: the brain of the observer and the observed brain. The elimination of the possessive relationship compels one to ignore this fundamental fact…The violence in the way behavior has been treated finds a necessary compensation in an anthropomorphic interpretation of the brain [e.g., the unacceptable term “the schizophrenic brain” is surely a scientific category error with consequences involving imprecise, reductionistic trends]. One grants less to behavior than is due to it, and gives the brain more than belongs to it.
Erwin Straus https://web.archive.org/web/20061118022137/http://www.isps-us.org/koehler/decade_person.htm