Rebecca PettiboneMs. CookENG1027 Oct, 2017Breaking down panpsychism, and the patterns it holds can be a tricky task. Despite it being a newly developed theory, there is still a lot of information out there; however, panpsychism is the answer. The patterns developed in the world, and throughout the universe have a striking resemblance to each other. Panpsychism is the bridge between them. This may sound crazy, causing one to simply dismiss panpsychism, or the connections between patterns as mere coincidences. Whenever someone is dealing with metaphysics, it can be difficult to obtain a definitive answer; however, there is quite a bit of evidence to say that this theory heads in the right direction.The …show more content…
How does panpsychism tie into this? Panpsychism at its most basic definition, is the belief that everything has a consciousness. From the smallest elements to the greatest nebulas. Referencing a photo found on the blog website Tumblr, the similarities can be seen between the human eye and a nebula, the birth of a cell and the death of a star, and lastly a brain cell and the map of the universe as we know it to be. There are other similarities not listed on this Tumblr post such as the molecule structure and a solar system, and the top view of galaxies and a Fibonacci spiral.Knowing the patterns here, the connection with panpsychism can be made. There are many subsets of panpsychism, but the most prominent for this argument would be constitutive cosmopsychism. The definition of Constitutive cosmopychism is, “The view that all facts are grounded in/realized by/constituted of consciousness-involving facts at the cosmic level” …show more content…
“Consciousness...is simply the property of having some or other kind of experience...” (Goff 1). Whereas, “Thoughts are sophisticated, concept-involving representations of reality...” (Goff 1). Constitutive cosmopsychism does not claim that the universe can think, but that it can experience. Knowing this, we can begin to branch these theories to patterns.There are however, arguments and challenges against all theories of panpsychism. The first that it is crazy. On the surface panpsychism goes against common sense. As Goff stated in his research paper titled, Panpsychism, panpsychists often receive incredulous looks of disbelief when they bring up the idea that electrons have consciousness (Goff 6-7). The idea that panpsychism should be dismissed just because it seems to go against common sense is just unfair. There is a long history of scientific theories being ‘crazy.’ Take for example Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. This was a preposterous idea that went against common sense, but through the years we have come to accept it. The same can be said for the idea that the earth is round, when it was previously thought to be flat. Dismissing panpsychism just because it is crazy is not a solid objection for, “Certainly we cannot imagine such a thing by using our perceptual and/or introspective
In 1911, a Swiss psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler coined the term "schizophrenia." It originated from the Greek words, schizo, which translates to "split" and phrenia, meaning "mind." When Bleuler conveyed the meaning of this term, it was not to label a person as a "split personality," but rather as a split between what is believed, what is perceived, and what is objectively real (1). Throughout history, the disorder has been confused and misunderstood by the general public. The idea of "split" has led people to equate schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder which is a psychiatric condition that is different and much less common. Bleuler did not want to label schizophrenia as the disorder where a person is split into two personalities; instead he wanted to explain that in schizophrenia, there is a splitting away of the personality from reality.
"AAAS Board Resolution on Intelligent Design Theory." AAAS. N.p., 2002. Web. 7 Nov 2010. .
Lesley Stevens and Ian Rodin justified the need of acquisition to the mental disorders’ aetiology in their book “Psychiatry”. They pointed out the fact that psychiatrists need to be familiar with the contribution of a particular disorder in order to make a more confident in the diagnosis. Knowing the aetiology of psychotic disorder is as important as the diagnosis. For the simple reason that psychotic disorders do not have particular tests that can be made for diagnosis; on the contrary, physical illnesses do. Knowing the probability of patients vulnerability to a particular disorder helps in the diagnosis. They gave an example explaining that the probability of having angina is more likely in a 60-year-old male smoker rather than a 30 year-old female non-smoker. Although the causes of schizophrenia remains incompletely reveled, research has shown strong factors that might contribute to the disorder. The factors that increase the risk of schizophrenia include: genetics, environmental factors, and some encephalon(brain) abnormalities.
This paper discusses the need to discover new properties of space to better understand consciousness, and impossibility of doing so
An underlying theme present throughout the series is the possibility that our existence is not the only one. According to current theories in physics, it is entirely possible that our universe is just one of many universes f...
“Schizophrenia is Greek and comes from the words ‘split’ (skhizein) and ‘mind’ (phren) which was introduced by Eugen Bleuler. Schizophrenia is a devastating psychotic disorder that may involve characteristic disturbances in thinking (delusions), perception (hallucinations), speech, emotions, and behavior” (Barlow and Durand, page G-17, 470). It is sometimes categorized as prophets, witches, and devils (Kaplan and Sadock, page 1432). “Schizophrenia is a serious and lifelong mental disorder that affects one percent of the population worldwide. The onset is occurs mainly in adolescence or early adulthood” (Minzengberg and Yoon, Chapter 10). Though it mainly occurs in adolescence and early adulthood, it is also common in late adulthood.
What if you lived your life in constant fear of the voices in your head, feeling like someone’s plotting to harm you, or had a hard time interacting with the people around you? These are some of the common issues that people with Schizophrenia face in their life. Imagine if you were a parent and you believe your child is just acting out, but all signs lead to a much broader diagnosis. In order to visualize ourselves or other people around us living with Schizophrenia; we must first define the meaning of Schizophrenia.
When people think about mental illness they think about people with mental voices or psychopathic killers like Michael Myers from the movie Halloween , but not all mental illnesses or disorders are so not visible or easily distinguished. Psychological disorders can vary from as minor as drinking problems to as severe as depression and anxiety. Though all mental illnesses are severe and harmful in many ways psychiatrist and doctors still are yet to find permanent cures. There is research linked to genes, hormone problems, brain development, and environment that trigger mental disorders but no research yet indicates the true cause.
The Soloist (Foster, Krasnoff & Wright, 2008), is based on a true story of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr. who develops psychosis and becomes homeless. In the film, Nathaniel is considered a cello genius who is discovered on the streets by Steve Lopez, a journalist from the Los Angeles Times. Steve was searching for a story and he decided to write a newspaper article about Nathaniel. Nathaniel always had a passion for music. He was a child prodigy and attended Juilliard School of Music. However, he faced many complications at Juilliard, particularly hearing voices speaking to him. Unable to handle the voices, Nathaniel dropped out and ended up living on the streets of Los Angeles. Steve and Nathaniel develops an unexpected
Schizophrenia is a serious, chronic mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality and disturbances of thought, mood, and perception. Schizophrenia is the most common and the most potentially sever and disabling of the psychosis, a term encompassing several severe mental disorders that result in the loss of contact with reality along with major personality derangements. Schizophrenia patients experience delusions, hallucinations and often lose thought process. Schizophrenia affects an estimated one percent of the population in every country of the world. Victims share a range of symptoms that can be devastating to themselves as well as to families and friends. They may have trouble dealing with the most minor everyday stresses and insignificant changes in their surroundings. They may avoid social contact, ignore personal hygiene and behave oddly (Kass, 194). Many people outside the mental health profession believe that schizophrenia refers to a “split personality”. The word “schizophrenia” comes from the Greek schizo, meaning split and phrenia refers to the diaphragm once thought to be the location of a person’s mind and soul. When the word “schizophrenia” was established by European psychiatrists, they meant to describe a shattering, or breakdown, of basic psychological functions. Eugene Bleuler is one of the most influential psychiatrists of his time. He is best known today for his introduction of the term “schizophrenia” to describe the disorder previously known as dementia praecox and for his studies of schizophrenics. The illness can best be described as a collection of particular symptoms that usually fall into four basic categories: formal thought disorder, perception disorder, feeling/emotional disturbance, and behavior disorders (Young, 23). People with schizophrenia describe strange of unrealistic thoughts. Their speech is sometimes hard to follow because of disordered thinking. Phrases seem disconnected, and ideas move from topic to topic with no logical pattern in what is being said. In some cases, individuals with schizophrenia say that they have no idea at all or that their heads seem “empty”. Many schizophrenic patients think they possess extraordinary powers such as x-ray vision or super strength. They may believe that their thoughts are being controlled by others or that everyone knows what they are thinking. These beliefs ar...
Krauss, Lawrence Maxwell, and Richard Dawkins. A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing. New York, NY: Free, 2012. 7-8. Print.
Schizophrenia was not well known prior to the 19th century. Up until this point, not many accounts of schizophrenic like syndromes were recorded, whereas “reports of irrational, unintelligible, or uncontrolled behavior were common” ("Schizophrenia", n.d.). Schizophrenia is a difficult illness to understand and it took doctors and psychiatrist a long time to classify the illness and to figure out how it presents itself. “The history of schizophrenia is complex and does not lend itself easily to a linear narrative” ("Schizophrenia", n.d.).
Schizophrenia today means “a psychotic mental illness that is charecterized by a twisted view of the real world, by a greatly reduced ability to carry out one’s daily tasks; to behave or have ways of acting, thinking or feeling abnormal” (Merriam-Webster). However, a little over a century ago, it was named by Paul Eugen Bleuler, from the Greek words “schizien” and “phren” which together mean split mind (Merriam-Webster) (Burton). He did not mean for this to mean “split personality disorder”, that is another illness entirely. Many people interchange those terms, but it is incorrect. The orginal name “dementia praecox” was created by a German doctor named Emil Kraepelin (Burton). Schizophrenia had many names before it was settled as the current because people failed to understand what exactly it was, so naming it was difficult. The German thought that is was a disease similar to what we now call Tay-Sachs, appearing in small children and stopping brain devolpment. Bleuler discovered it was the exact oppisite; instead of slowing devolpment causing a backslide, the patient expirences a higher level of awareness than normal (Burton).
...fs, so too are the scientists. The same logistics used by an evolutionary theory, can also easily turned against it. If something preceded something else in all cases, then what exactly was the first cause? That paradoxical conflict is one that we would have the most to gain in resolving, but in the meantime leaves room for the coexistence of metaphysics and science.
Up until the Enlightenment, mankind lived under the notion that religion, moreover intelligent design, was most likely the only explanation for the existence of life. However, people’s faith in the church’s ideals and teachings began to wither with the emergence of scientific ideas that were daringly presented to the world by great minds including Galileo and Darwin. The actuality that there was more to how and why we exist, besides just having an all-powerful creator, began to interest the curious minds in society. Thus, science began to emerge as an alternative and/or supplement to religion for some. Science provided a more analytical view of the world we see while religion was based more upon human tradition/faith and the more metaphysical world we don’t necessarily see. Today science may come across as having more solid evidence and grounding than religion because of scientific data that provides a seemingly more detailed overview of life’s complexity. “Einstein once said that the only incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible” (Polkinghorne, 62). Yet, we can still use theories and ideas from both, similar to Ian Barbour’s Dialouge and Integration models, to help us formulate an even more thorough concept of the universe using a human and religious perspective in addition to scientific data.