Speculations on the origin of the mind have ranged from ghosts to society. Each new theory brings about more speculation and disagreement than the last. Where the mind resides, where it came from and if the brain has any involvement with the concept are common questions that fuel theory paradigms. Those questions are also the foundation of the debate about the roll of experience versus the existence of innate capacities. Steven Pinker theorizes the mind as a computing system created by the brain to fill the gap between innate capacities and capacities missing using common sense and learned critical thinking skills.
Pinker’s conception of the mind is deeply rooted in the Ghost in the Machine. The mind is a vital force of life often associated
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Spatial and number senses as well as language are easily noticed in infants. As they grow they begin to notice differences in biology, they experience gravity while beginning to walk and use social psychology to determine the probability of getting what they want and need from specific people. Economics, database and logic come into play when learning social identity and trying on different roles to interact with people. Intuitive economics is not referencing money but the social hierarchy of a given society and the give and take nature of social relationships. For a child that hierarchy is within the family the parents at the top while siblings and social peers reside closer to the bottom. Children quickly learn how to behave around each group and what each group expects from them. Database and logic refers to the more internal functions of the brain as it learns to process and categorize all of this information in relation to the reality around them. These intuitions reflect the development of the brain throughout life as certain areas mature the mind matures with
One of the key questions raised by Rupert Sheldrake in the Seven Experiments That Could Change the World, is are we more than the ghost in the machine? It is perfectly acceptable to Sheldrake that humans are more than their brain, and because of this, and in actual reality “the mind is indeed extended beyond the brain, as most people throughout most of human history have believed.” (Sheldrake, Seven Experiments 104)
The human mind is one of the most complex structures the gods had created. It is difficult to understand each brain process as every human being possesses his or her own distinguished thought patterns with different levels of complexities. A person’s mind greatly influences his behavior, which eventually transforms into his habit by becoming embedded into his character. Today, the world of psychology tries to understand everything that a mind can create. However, even before the field of Psychology was introduced and brought into practice, some American writers threw a spotlight on the mechanism of the human brain in their works. On top of this list is an American writer, Edgar Allan
How can the brain be a mind, a conscious person? Recently, some philosophers have argued that human consciousness and cognitive activity, including even our moral cognition and behavior, can best be explained using a connectionist or neural network model of the brain (see Churchland 1995; Dennett 1991 and 1996). (1) Is this right? Can a mass of networked neurons produce moral human agents? I shall argue that it can; a brain can be morally excellent. A connectionist account of how the brain works can explain how a person might be morally excellent in Aristotle's sense of that term.
Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? Some accept the demarcations of skin and skull, and say that what is outside the body is outside the mind. Others are impressed by arguments suggesting that the meaning of our words aren’t in our mind, and hold that this externalism about meaning carries over into an externalism about mind. We advocate a very different sort of externalism: an active externalism, based on the active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes.
Core knowledge is a psychological theory that proposes the idea that children have innate cognitive abilities that are the product of evolutionary mechanisms, called nativism. The theoretical approach of constructivism also includes that children have domain-specific learning mechanisms that efficiently collect additional information for those specific domains. The core knowledge theory is primarily focused on whether our cognitive abilities, or capacities, are palpable early on in development, or if these capacities come up during a later developmental phase (Siegler 168).
A review of Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works, in which McGinn elaborates on his theory of the mind.
Ramachandran, V. S., and Sandra Blakeslee. Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. New York: Quill, 1999. Print.
Evolutionary psychology is a specialist field within the spectrum of psychological enquiry, which seeks to examine and understand some of the predominant reasoning behind the concept of why the human species, whilst biologically similar to other species on the planet, is so very distinct in terms of intelligence and mental progression; demonstrated by the multifaceted and complex social structures we have created. Primary to this domain of evolutionary psychological interest is the notion of ‘theory of mind’, which was developed and advocated by Premack and Woodruff (1978), and has been the topic of fierce discussion and analysis since. It has resulted in manifold research studies and commentaries, regarding the topic, from an extensive range of sources within the academic field of psychology. This essay intends to explore the concept of theory of mind, using examples and research studies to fathom its relevance, application and significance within evolutionary psychology as a whole.
Davis, Tom. The Theories of the Mind Lectures. Ed. G. Baston. Birmingham University. 9 Nov. 2000
Human intelligence is an eel-like subject: slippery, difficult to grasp, and almost impossible to get straight [3]. Many scientist and psychologist have made numerous attempts to come up with an explanation for the development of human intelligence. For many years, there has been much controversy over what intelligence is and whether it is hereditary or nurtured by the environment. Webster's dictionary defines intelligence as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge; which includes a sensing an environment and reaching conclusions about the state of that environment [7]. In this paper I am going to examine the factors, which make up ones intelligence. I will be investigating whether or not intelligence is fostered by genetic heritance or nurtured by ones environment.
When focusing on perception as the main method to approach the pursuit of knowledge, it becomes increasingly difficult to pursue knowledge. Without the proper emphasis on logic, sense perception becomes irrelevant in the pursuit of knowledge. Ever since I was in third grade, I have known a fellow student named Max, who suffers from a disease known as Down Syndrome. Max is unable to efficiently and logically piece together knowledge, because individuals with Down Syndrome suffer from intellectual disability, which varies from “mild to moderate cognitive disability”. While Max was able to make out the sights of his peers and classmates during class, he was intellectually incapable of processing his surroundi...
The term ‘consciousness’ as it can be defined is the state of one being conscious or aware of one’s own being, existence, thoughts, feelings as well of his surroundings (Consciousness, 2014). It is often found that human beings tend to ignore the fact that consciousness is apparent in their existence. It has been assumed since early times that it is the brain that leads to production of consciousness in an individual. The brain in this case has largely been associated with the mind. While several studies have been conducted trying to determine the relation of consciousness with the brain, direct evidences were hard to find that could imply that brain and consciousness are identical. Rather it could be obtained that the operation of human consciousness can be beyond the brain or the body. Hence the two cannot be said to be identical (Dossey, 2009).
pp. 164-71. LeDoux, J. E. (2002). "The 'Path How Our Brains Become Who We Are. New York: Viking Books, Inc. M. M. Merzenich, J. K. (1983).
The mind is a collection of various classes of processes that can be studied empirically. To limit the field of mental processes we must follow the criteria of folk psychology. There are three kinds of mind: human, animal and mechanical. But the human mind is the paradigm or model of mind. The existence of mechanical minds is a serious challenge to the materialism or the mind-brain identity theory. Based on this existence we can put forward the antimaterialist argument of machines. Intelligence is a class of mental processes such that the mind is the genus and the intelligence is a species of this genus. The capacity to solve problems is a clear and definite criterion of intelligence. Again, like in the mind, the human intelligence is the paradigm of the intelligence. There are also three kinds of intelligence: human, animal and mechanical. Searle’s Chinese room argument is misleading because Searle believes that it is possible to maintain a sharp distinction between syntax and semantics. The reasonable dualism in the brain-mind problem defends the existence of brain-mental processes, physical-mental processes, and non-physical-mental (spiritual) processes. Constitution of the personal project of life, self-consciousness and free volitions are examples of spiritual processes. Usually the intelligence has been considered the most important quality of human beings, but freedom, or the world of free volitions, is a more specific quality of human beings.
Rene Descartes’ Theory of Ideas has helped to shape our entire world of thought as it applies to all subjects. While it may seem to be an overstatement to say all subjects, it is not. Whether it is science, literature, or the fine arts, all of these meditations require some degree of thought. People think all day long; they are constantly and unknowingly solving problems, analyzing, detecting, observing, questioning, wondering, and sensing; yet they rarely question their ability to do so or where the knowledge comes from. In his studies, Descartes sought to discover the origin of these thoughts and abilities. Is the information in our head learned or have we had it all along and are simply remembering? Why is it that all animals, humans included, acquire a specific set of survival instincts at birth? While Descartes’ theory led to the further investigation and questioning by other philosophers, it also allowed for many discoveries in the world of psychology, as it relates to development and instinctual behavior.