the philosophy of mind



mind graphic at hiartx.com



mind is a secondary topic

mind sub topics

 
 
 
 
 
 

1. The word "mind" refers to the complex entity that is utilized when I (and, I assume, we) think. A thought or representation in the mind is that particular simple or complex thing that we are aware of at any given time.

We could be aware of the color blue for example, and nothing else. Or, we could be aware of the word "blue". Perhaps, if we had a pain in our arm we could be aware of both the pain, to some degree, and the color or word "blue".

2. The mind is capable, in normal humans, of storing memories. Memories are simple or complex representations that are stored, in some way that can be accessed in the future, by the awareness of the individual.

Memories can be accessed and retroactively manipulated with or without conscious awareness and this unconscious manipulation of memory often happens in, for example, individuals who have had some severe trauma. Humans can lie to others, which is reporting a difference between memory and what is reported. Humans can lie to themselves, consciously, and manipulate memory.

2[1]. Memories are strengthened in duration and in potential for awareness (a fuzzy measure of conceptual strength) through repetition of the use of such a memory.

If I continually, and over time, learn that "gravity exists", then my belief that "gravity exists" will become stronger and my ease of referencing it will become enhanced.

We could, perhaps, rank conceptual strengths in the associations (in AI, this would be the neural network associative links) by a numerical degree relative to other numerical degrees in existence.

 
graphic showing some of the interconnected features of the mind

3. The imagination is the ability or capacity to manipulate symbols or representations through combination, subtraction, morphing, rotation, zoom, explosion, implosion, disappearance, and anything else we can think of to do with a visual representation.

We can imagine louder sounds and we can remember songs. We can, to some degree, remember pain and we can remember mental anguish of some sort, but, as Hume pointed out, how lucky we are that such memories dull and fade through time. Would you want to truly relive, forever, the worst day of your life? I think not.

4. It is often thought that conceptual distraction can help pain be alleviated and this may be a result of the pain being greater when it is more attuned to our perception of it.

If, for example, we think of the pain in our thumb from being hit with a hammer one hour ago, and we also imagine the red, throbbing, bloody thumb itself, under the bandage, we may be in greater pain than, for example a representation of a complex memory of being on the beach in Barcelona. Mentally, we can be taken away from our representations.

5. The color blue, I think, does not necessarily refer to anything else because it is not a concept but a simple thought, idea, or representation. The word, "blue", however, has reference to the color, to an emotional state, or perhaps, to a style of art.

The color blue can, I think, remind of us of other blue things or colors in general not because it must, but because we access stored memory based on a search of those things or concepts that contain blue. This would be reasoning by association, not that the perception itself means anything in particular as the word "blue" does.

5[1]. The color blue and the word "blue", when read or heard, can both cause a conceptual cascade based on some property or facet of the simple perceptual representation, namely it's blueness, or the conceptual symbol in the form of a word (which is also a representation).

6. The options in what has become known as the mind-body problem in philosophy is represented by the following graphic:

graphic showing the possible metaphysical situations between mind and body or the mind-body problem


6-[A]. In option A, we have both the concept of mind and the concept of body as distinct, but we assume that they are two ways of looking at the same thing.

Option A is a type of monism in which the subject is thought of us what it is like to be the object yet, fundamentally, they are the same type of thing and the confusion or problem arises because the way it appears to be something is different than the way it appears to not be something. Monism means that one and only one substance makes up the world.

A is assumed in considerations of Being as a whole such as in Heidegger's work and in the Hindu philosophy of Atman and Brahman, specifically. A is perhaps thought of us the most advanced understanding of the problem, but I can not take it as more than an assumption, coherent and useful as it may be.

6-[B]. In option B, we have the concept of mind being thought of us illusory or a mistake and in which there is only physical or material substance. This view is commonly called physicalism or materialism.

The difference between A and B is that, in B, there is an underlying assumption about the nature of the world we experience as extended substance and even the concept of the mind is seen as only a mistake. B is often assumed in the sciences and in reductionist paradigms in general. Physicalism is popular in contemporary philosophy but I think it is nothing more than an assumption that appeals to what is seen as the reality of the objects studied in science.

6-[C]. In option C, we have the opposite of option B. Option C is often called idealism or the idea that reality is primarily mental and what we think as the material or physical world is either actually a manifestation of mind. The difference between A and C is that the world is best understood, in C, in terms of the mind and as mind rather than seeing neither as primary.

The difference between C and B is simply that in B we take empirical evidence as real while overlooking the mind and in C we take mental experience as real while at the same time overlooking empirical findings as real. C seems a fairly plausible option, though still an assumption, because no matter the case of the world as it is in itself, the mind must observe and interpret all of it.

6-[D]. In option D, we have dualism. Dualism is the view that the concept of the mind and the concept of the body refer to two distinct substances. There are, then, things that are mental and they are actually made of some mental substance and also there are things that are physical and made of some physical substance.

This option would say that there is an immaterial mind (or, perhaps, soul) as well as a material body that exist, in some way, together or side-by-side. D has the problems of how the two substances, the soul and the body, would interact in cases of brain damage and the like. One could plausibly say that nueral events correspond but are not identical to mental events and this is possible.

6-[E]. In option E, we have what I call pluralism. This is simply an extension of dualism in that there is thought to be, under this possibility, more than simply the two substances, namely, mind and body, but also perhaps one or more other substances that constitute reality. This is just open ended dualism.

6-[F]. In option F, we have the other possibility or possibilities in which we are wrong in A through E and none of them are correct. What would this be? Perhaps a form of mysticism or perhaps a view that we are completely wrong in these distinctions.

6[1]. What is the best possible way of looking at the problem? I think to explore all of these possibilities is useful in philosophy but only A and B are useful in the sciences. I think, ultimately, A is the most simple and, although it is an assumption, if we accept Occam's razor, A is the least complicated possibility.

6[2]. It could be said that A is simply B in which consciousness is impenetrable to empirical theory. If consciousness is something that has no public referent, then it does not necessitate that it is something distinct in terms of a substance but that only it has a position beyond the symbols we attempt to use in describing it.

When I say the word consciousness, I mean [this]. But my [this] can not be proven to be identical to your [this] and the degree to which your [this] is like my [this] can only be an assumption based on assumptions about reality.


 


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