The mind–brain problem remains unresolved. By examining neurophilosophical and neuropsychological positions, the problem can be reframed as a structural relation between methodological and content-related aspects, which highlights the need for a new balance between separating and integrating elements. As an alternative, Rudolf Steiner's approach is investigated, which includes a first-person method and the mirror metaphor—the brain as necessary but not sufficient for mental activity. A first-person study using volitionally controlled perceptual reversals reveals a phenomenological distinction between engaging and disengaging forms of mental activity. This initiates discussion of related philosophical concepts and outlines next research steps.
Thinking and perceiving have alternated between convergence and divergence throughout the history of science and philosophy; today they appear more separated than ever, contributing to scientific crises. Drawing on the consciousness phenomenology of Rudolf Steiner and Herbert Witzenmann, this article shows how methodical first-person observation can integrate thinking and perceiving. Through skilled introspective or meditative self-observation, individuals can observe their own mental micro-actions of separating and integrating, which jointly constitute thinking and perceiving. This approach combines conceptual and perceptual dimensions, aligning with the methodological core of modern natural science, and may enable further development of human consciousness and its scientific study.
Consciousness and behavior are linked, but instead of focusing on the 'hard problem' of how consciousness arises from the brain, a metaphysically neutral approach is proposed. This requires studying both mental and physical sides with equal depth and using a neutral tool to formalize them. First-person studies reveal that subtle mental activities, including negative feelings in ambiguous situations and inner agentive qualia, correlate with sensory-neural processing and synchronized brain oscillations. Transclassical Logic is introduced as a three-valued framework to integrate mental, psychophysical, and physical aspects, including embodied cognition. This rebalances first-person and third-person perspectives, offering new experimental hypotheses for neurophenomenology.