Body & Soul0 min ago
The Mind
What exactly is 'the mind'
I'm probably thinking a bit to much again but never mind (no pun intended...honestly)
But seriously, how does science explain mind? I am sitting here on my couch, which presumably doesn't have a mind of its own, typing on a keypad, which, again, doesn't have a mind of its own. I'm looking at a spider plant, which is an organic lifeform, and again it doesn't have a mind.
Neither does anything else in my flat. My mind is the only mind in my flat. (that I know of).
My (or your) mind can change with the use of drugs/chemicals/alcohol/meditation/dementia/love or hate/music/ad infinitum.
And if the previous can change perception of mind, then what the hell is really 'real'?
If 'the mind' is so easily manipulated then how do we know that what we experience is actually real?
I'm probably thinking a bit to much again but never mind (no pun intended...honestly)
But seriously, how does science explain mind? I am sitting here on my couch, which presumably doesn't have a mind of its own, typing on a keypad, which, again, doesn't have a mind of its own. I'm looking at a spider plant, which is an organic lifeform, and again it doesn't have a mind.
Neither does anything else in my flat. My mind is the only mind in my flat. (that I know of).
My (or your) mind can change with the use of drugs/chemicals/alcohol/meditation/dementia/love or hate/music/ad infinitum.
And if the previous can change perception of mind, then what the hell is really 'real'?
If 'the mind' is so easily manipulated then how do we know that what we experience is actually real?
Answers
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There have been more words written on that question than I have ever read - I couldn't begin to better them.
To me (my) mind allows me to make choices mentally, to absorb things around me and to use my brain power as and when it's needed for my purposes.
Is it the same as conciousness or is it more? I really don't know.
The older I get, the less I analyse the why and more I enjoy the doing.living and loving.
To me (my) mind allows me to make choices mentally, to absorb things around me and to use my brain power as and when it's needed for my purposes.
Is it the same as conciousness or is it more? I really don't know.
The older I get, the less I analyse the why and more I enjoy the doing.living and loving.
There are some questions where the science runs out and other things, like faith, mythology, personal experience offer insights that are just as helpful as the science.
There are theories of the mind: these seek to describe at what stage we recognise ourselves as individuals and distinct from the things around us.
But none, so far as I am aware, explain what mind is; how it might be distinct from consciousness; whether other creatures might have a mind.
We can be pretty sure other creatures have some level of consciousness; some ability to think and solve problems, but the ability to ask questions such as yours appears to be the privilege of humans.
Your quest for understanding and knowledge is admirable, but this is not a question for science. Maybe spirituality.
You have plenty of that.
There are theories of the mind: these seek to describe at what stage we recognise ourselves as individuals and distinct from the things around us.
But none, so far as I am aware, explain what mind is; how it might be distinct from consciousness; whether other creatures might have a mind.
We can be pretty sure other creatures have some level of consciousness; some ability to think and solve problems, but the ability to ask questions such as yours appears to be the privilege of humans.
Your quest for understanding and knowledge is admirable, but this is not a question for science. Maybe spirituality.
You have plenty of that.
“I think; therefore I am” was the end of the search Descartes conducted for a statement that could not be doubted. He found that he could not doubt that he himself existed, as he was the one doing the doubting in the first place. In Latin (the language in which Descartes wrote), the phrase is “Cogito, ergo sum.”
-- answer removed --
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.
David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel.
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.
There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya
'Bout the raising of the wrist,
Socrates, himself, was permanently ***.
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Plato, they say, could stick it away,
Half a crate of whiskey every day.
Aristotle, Aristotle was a *** for the bottle,
And Hobbes was fond of his dram.
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart,
"I drink, therefore I am."
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker, but a *** when he's ***.
Composer and author: Eric Idle
Who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.
David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel.
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.
There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya
'Bout the raising of the wrist,
Socrates, himself, was permanently ***.
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Plato, they say, could stick it away,
Half a crate of whiskey every day.
Aristotle, Aristotle was a *** for the bottle,
And Hobbes was fond of his dram.
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart,
"I drink, therefore I am."
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker, but a *** when he's ***.
Composer and author: Eric Idle
-- answer removed --
It's that which comprehends the environment ans self. It emerges from the vast number of neuron connections. Most things don't have a brain of such complexity. Affect the connections, affect the resultant mind. You need faith in the experience you seem to have, but nothing is certain. You may still be a brain in a jar in a lab somewhere. But what are the odds ?
"'The poet Hoha once dreamed he was a butterfly, and then he awoke and said, “Am I a man who dreamed he was a butterfly or am I a butterfly dreaming he is a man?”‘ said Lobsang, trying to join in.
‘Really?’ said Susan briskly. ‘And which was he?’
‘What? Well…who knows?’
‘How did he write his poems?’ said Susan.
‘With a brush, of course.’
‘He didn’t flap around making information-rich patterns in the air or laying eggs on cabbage leaves?’
‘No one ever mentioned it.’
‘Then he was probably a man,’ said Susan."
Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
‘Really?’ said Susan briskly. ‘And which was he?’
‘What? Well…who knows?’
‘How did he write his poems?’ said Susan.
‘With a brush, of course.’
‘He didn’t flap around making information-rich patterns in the air or laying eggs on cabbage leaves?’
‘No one ever mentioned it.’
‘Then he was probably a man,’ said Susan."
Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
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