'Mind' collectively refers to the aspects of
intellect and
consciousness manifested as combinations of
thought,
perception,
memory,
emotion,
will and
imagination; mind is the stream of consciousness. It includes all of the brain's conscious processes. This denotation sometimes includes, in certain contexts, the working of the human sub-conscious or the conscious thoughts of animals. "Mind" is often used to refer especially to the thought processes of
reason.
There are many theories of the mind and its function. The earliest recorded works on the mind are by
Plato,
Aristotle,
Adi Shankara,
Siddhārtha Gautama, and other ancient
Greek and
Indian philosophers. Pre-scientific theories, based in
theology, concentrated on the relationship between the mind and the
soul, the supposed supernatural,
divine or god-given essence of the person. Modern theories, based on scientific understanding of the brain, theorise that the mind is a phenomenon of the brain and is synonymous with
consciousness.
The question of which human attributes make up the mind is also much debated. Some argue that only the "higher" intellectual functions constitute mind: particularly
reason and
memory. In this view the emotions -
love,
hate,
fear,
joy - are more "primitive" or subjective in nature and should be seen as different from the mind. Others argue that the rational and the emotional sides of the human person cannot be separated, that they are of the same nature and origin, and that they should all be considered as part of the individual mind.
In popular usage ''mind'' is frequently synonymous with ''thought'': It is that private conversation with ourselves that we carry on "inside our heads." Thus we "make up our minds," "change our minds" or are "of two minds" about something. One of the key attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No-one else can "know our mind." They can only know what we communicate.
Aspects of mind
Mental faculties
Thought is a mental process which allows beings to
model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and
desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes include
cognition,
sentience,
consciousness,
idea, and
imagination. Thinking involves the cerebral manipulation of
information, as when we form
concepts, engage in
problem solving,
reason and make
decisions.
Thinking is a higher
cognitive function and the analysis of thinking processes is part of
cognitive psychology.
There is a strain in modern philosophy
Contentless Thought which argues that thought cannot have any content, irreducible substrate, or essence. This strain argues that thought has no content i.e thought is not in language or images or concepts or anything else. This philosophy argues that thought can have no 'thing', or essence as a necessary truth. In consequence it agues the utter untenability of a mentalist realist philosophy of mind as well as the untenability of the analytic philosophical tradition of Dummett- which argues there can be no thought without language. Thus the debates between cognitivist and communicative theorists as to whether thought has an essence such as language, or images, or concepts, and or anything else is brought to an end. As a corollary to this it is argued untenability of any program, like Newspeak, as instigated in Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty-Four, to control thinking, by delimiting thought, by controlling the content of thought
Memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and subsequently recall information. Although traditional studies of memory began in the realms of
philosophy, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of
cognitive psychology. In recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a new branch of science called
cognitive neuroscience, a marriage between cognitive psychology and
neuroscience.
Imagination is accepted as the innate ability and
process to invent partial or complete personal realms within the mind from elements derived from sense perceptions of the shared world. The term is technically used in
psychology for the process of reviving in the mind
percepts of objects formerly given in sense perception. Since this use of the term conflicts with that of ordinary
language, some psychologists have preferred to describe this process as "
imaging" or "
imagery" or to speak of it as "reproductive" as opposed to "productive" or "constructive" imagination. Imagined images are seen with the "
mind's eye". One hypothesis for the evolution of human imagination is that it allowed
conscious beings to solve problems (and hence increase an individual's
fitness) by use of mental
simulation.
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as
subjectivity,
self-awareness,
sentience,
sapience, and the ability to
perceive the relationship between
oneself and one's
environment. It is a subject of much research in
philosophy of mind,
psychology,
neuroscience, and
cognitive science. Some philosophers divide consciousness into
phenomenal consciousness, which is subjective experience itself, and access consciousness, which refers to the global availability of information to processing systems in the brain.
[1] Phenomenal consciousness is a state with
qualia. Phenomenal consciousness is being something and access consciousness is being conscious of something.
Philosophy of mind
:Main article:
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is the branch of
philosophy that studies the nature of the mind,
mental events,
mental functions,
mental properties,
consciousness and their relationship to the physical body. The ''
mind-body problem'', i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as the central issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body.
[2]
''
Dualism'' and ''
monism'' are the two major schools of thought that attempt to resolve the mind-body problem. Dualism is the position that mind and body are in some way separate from each other. It can be traced back to
Plato,
[3] Aristotle[4][5][6] and the
Sankhya and
Yoga schools of
Hindu philosophy,
[7] but it was most precisely formulated by
René Descartes in the 17th century.
[8] ''
Substance dualists'' argue that the mind is an independently existing substance, whereas ''
Property dualists'' maintain that the mind is a group of independent properties that
emerge from and cannot be reduced to the brain, but that it is not a distinct substance.
[9]
''Monism'' is the position that mind and body are not
ontologically distinct kinds of entities. This view was first advocated in
Western Philosophy by
Parmenides in the 5th Century BC and was later espoused by the 17th Century
rationalist Baruch Spinoza.
[10] ''
Physicalists'' argue that only the entities postulated by physical theory exist, and that the mind will eventually be explained in terms of these entities as physical theory continues to evolve. ''
Idealists'' maintain that the mind is all that exists and that the external world is either mental itself, or an illusion created by the mind. ''
Neutral monists'' adhere to the position that there is some other, neutral substance, and that both matter and mind are properties of this unknown substance. The most common monisms in the 20th and 21st centuries have all been variations of physicalism; these positions include
behaviorism, the
type identity theory,
anomalous monism and
functionalism.
[11]
Many modern philosophers of mind adopt either a ''reductive'' or ''non-reductive physicalist'' position, maintaining in their different ways that the mind is not something separate from the body.
11 These approaches have been particularly influential in the sciences, particularly in the fields of
sociobiology,
computer science,
evolutionary psychology and the various
neurosciences.
[12][13][Russell, S. and Norvig, P. ''Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach'', New Jersey:Prentice Hall. ISBN 0131038052][14] Other philosophers, however, adopt a non-physicalist position which challenges the notion that the mind is a purely physical construct. ''Reductive physicalists'' assert that all mental states and properties will eventually be explained by scientific accounts of physiological processes and states.
[15][16][17] ''Non-reductive physicalists'' argue that although the brain is all there ''is'' to the mind, the predicates and vocabulary used in mental descriptions and explanations are indispensable, and cannot be reduced to the language and lower-level explanations of physical science.
[18][19] Continued
neuroscientific progress has helped to clarify some of these issues. However, they are far from having been resolved, and modern philosophers of mind continue to ask how the subjective qualities and the intentionality (aboutness) of mental states and properties can be explained in naturalistic terms.
[20][21]
Science of mind
Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior. As both an
academic and
applied discipline, Psychology involves the
scientific study of
mental processes such as
perception,
cognition,
emotion,
personality, as well as environmental influences, such as social and cultural influences, and
interpersonal relationships, in order to devise theories of human behavior. Psychology also refers to the application of such
knowledge to various spheres of
human activity, including problems of individuals'
daily lives and the treatment of
mental health problems.
Psychology differs from the other
social sciences (e.g.,
anthropology,
economics,
political science, and
sociology) due to its focus on
experimentation at the scale of the individual, as opposed to
groups or
institutions. Historically, psychology differed from
biology and
neuroscience in that it was primarily concerned with mind rather than brain, a
philosophy of mind known as
dualism. Modern psychological science incorporates
physiological and
neurological processes into its conceptions of
perception,
cognition, behavior, and
mental disorders.
Social psychology and group behaviour
Social psychology is the study of how social conditions affect human beings. Scholars in this field are generally either
psychologists or
sociologists. Social psychologists who are trained in psychology tend to focus on individuals as the unit of study; sociologists tend to favor the study of groups and larger social units such as societies, although there are exceptions to these general tendencies in both fields. Despite their similarity, the disciplines also tend to differ in their respective goals, approaches, methods, and terminology. They also favor separate
academic journals and
societies.
Like
biophysics and
cognitive science, social psychology is an
interdisciplinary area. The greatest period of collaboration between sociologists and psychologists was during the years immediately following World War II (Sewell, 1989). Although there has been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, some degree of overlap and influence remains between the two disciplines.
Brain
In animals the
brain, or ''encephalon'' (
Greek for "in the head"), is the control center of the
central nervous system, responsible for
thought. In most animals, the brain is located in the head, protected by the
skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of
vision,
hearing,
equilibrioception,
taste and
olfaction. While all
vertebrates have a brain, most
invertebrates have either a centralized brain or collections of individual
ganglia. Primitive animals such as
sponges do not have a brain at all. Brains can be extremely complex. For example, the
human brain contains more than 100 billion
neurons, each linked to as many as 10,000 others.
Mental health
By analogy with the health of the body, one can speak metaphorically of a state of health of the mind, or
mental health.
Merriam-Webster defines mental health as "A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life." According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), there is no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined. In general, most experts agree that "mental health" and "
mental illness" are not opposites. In other words, the absence of a recognized mental disorder is not necessarily an indicator of mental health.
One way to think about mental health is by looking at how effectively and successfully a person functions. Feeling capable and competent; being able to handle normal levels of stress, maintaining satisfying relationships, and leading an independent life; and being able to "bounce back," or recover from difficult situations, are all signs of mental health.
Psychotherapy is an
interpersonal,
relational intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid s in problems of living. This usually includes increasing individual sense of
well-being and reducing subjective discomforting experience. Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building,
dialogue,
communication and
behavior change and that are designed to improve the
mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a
family). Most forms of psychotherapy use only spoken
conversation, though some also use various other forms of communication such as the written word,
art,
drama,
narrative story, or therapeutic touch. Psychotherapy occurs within a structured encounter between a trained
therapist and client(s). Purposeful, theoretically based psychotherapy began in the 19th century with
psychoanalysis; since then, scores of other approaches have been developed and continue to be created.
Developmental history of the human mind
The nature and origins of
hominid intelligence is of natural interest to humans as the most successful and intelligent
hominid species. As nearly a century of archaeological research has shown, the hominids evolved from earlier primates in eastern
Africa. Like some non-primate tree-dwelling mammals, such as
opossums, they evolved an
opposable thumb, which enabled them to grasp and manipulate objects, such as fruit. They also possessed front-facing
binocular vision.
Around 10 million years ago, the earth's climate entered a cooler and drier phase, which led eventually to the
ice ages. This forced tree-dwelling animals to adapt to their new environment or die out. Some primates adapted to this challenge by adopting
bipedalism: walking on their hind legs. This gave their eyes greater elevation and the ability to see approaching danger further off. At some point the bipedal primates developed the ability to pick up sticks, bones and stones and use them as
weapons, or as
tools for tasks such as killing smaller animals or cutting up carcases. In other words, these primates developed the use of
technology, an adaptation no other animals have attained. Bipedal tool-using primates became
hominids, of which the earliest species, such as ''
Sahelanthropus tchadensis'', are dated to about 7 million years ago.
From about 5 million years ago, the hominid brain began to develop rapidly, because an evolutionary loop had been established between the hominid hand and brain. The use of tools conferred a crucial evolutionary advantage on those hominids which had this skill. The use of tools required a larger and more sophisticated brain to co-ordinate the fine hand movements required for this task. By 2 million years ago ''
Homo habilis'' had appeared in east Africa: the first hominid to make tools rather than merely use them. These hominids developed
language, and the range of activities we call
culture, including
art and
religion.
About 200,000 years ago
Europe and the
Near East were colonised by hominids known to us as
Neanderthal man. They decorated their tools for aesthetic pleasure and buried their dead in way which suggest spiritual beliefs. Despite these modern characteristics, the Neanderthals were no match for the more numerous ''homo sapiens'' when he entered the region about 40,000 years ago, and by 25,000 years ago they were extinct. Between 120,000 to 165,000 years ago ''Homo sapiens'' had reached his modern physical form in Africa, and was already the unchallenged master of the physical environment, able to hunt and kill any other terrestrial animal and (almost) immune to predators.
Animal intelligence
Animal cognition, or cognitive ethology, is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of animals. It has developed out of
comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of
ethology,
behavioral ecology, and
evolutionary psychology. Much of what used to be considered under the title of
animal intelligence is now thought of under this heading.
Animal language acquisition, attempting to discern or understand the degree to which animal cognistics can be revealed by
linguistics-related study, has been controversial among
cognitive linguists.
Artificial intelligence
The term
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was first used by
John McCarthy who considers it to mean "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines".
[22] It can also refer to
intelligence as exhibited by an
artificial (''man-made'', ''non-natural'', ''manufactured'') entity. The terms
strong and weak AI can be used to narrow the definition for classifying such systems. AI is studied in overlapping fields of
computer science,
psychology,
neuroscience and
engineering, dealing with intelligent
behavior,
learning and
adaptation and usually developed using customized
machines or
computers.
Research in AI is concerned with producing machines to automate tasks requiring intelligent behavior. Examples include
control,
planning and scheduling, the ability to answer diagnostic and consumer questions,
handwriting,
natural language,
speech and
facial recognition. As such, the study of AI has also become an engineering discipline, focused on providing solutions to real life problems,
knowledge mining,
software applications,
strategy games like
computer chess and other
video games. One of the biggest difficulties with AI is that of comprehension. Many devices have been created that can do amazing things, but critics of AI claim that no actual comprehension by the AI machine has taken place.
The debate about the nature of the mind is relevant to the development of
artificial intelligence. If the mind is indeed a thing separate from or higher than the functioning of the brain, then hypothetically it would be much more difficult to recreate within a machine, if it were possible at all. If, on the other hand, the mind is no more than the aggregated functions of the brain, then it will be possible to create a machine with a recognisable mind (though possibly only with computers much different from today's), by simple virtue of the fact that that such a machine already exists in the form of the human brain.
Religious perspectives
Various religious traditions have contributed unique perspectives on the nature of mind. In many traditions, especially
mystical traditions, overcoming the
ego is considered a worthy spiritual goal.
Judaism sees the human mind as one of the great wonders of
Yahweh's
creation.
Christianity has tended to see the mind as distinct from the
soul (Greek ''
nous'') and sometimes further distinguished from the
spirit.
Western esoteric traditions sometimes refer to a
mental body that exists on a plane other than the physical.
Hinduism's various philosophical schools have debated whether the human
soul (Sanskrit ''
atman'') is distinct from, or identical to, ''
Brahman'', the
divine reality.
Buddhism attempted to break with such
metaphysical speculation, and posited that there is actually no distinct thing as a human being, who merely consists of five aggregates, or ''
skandas''. The
Indian
philosopher-
sage Sri Aurobindo attempted to unite the Eastern and Western psychological traditions with his
integral psychology, as have many philosophers and
New religious movements.
Swami Parmanand Ji Maharaj of
Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram also gave a very good discourse on
The Mind.
Taoism sees the human being as contiguous with natural forces, and the mind as not separate from the
body.
Confucianism sees the mind, like the body, as inherently perfectible.
New age and alternative perspectives
According to the
Parapsychological Association,
parapsychology is the scientific study of certain types of
paranormal phenomena, or of phenomena which appear to be paranormal.
[23]
The term is based on the Greek
para (beside/beyond),
psyche (soul/mind), and
logos (account/explanation) and was coined by psychologist
Max Dessoir in or before 1889. Its first appearance was in an article by Dessoir in the June 1889 issue of the German publication ''Sphinx''.
[24] J. B. Rhine later popularized "parapsychology" as a replacement for the earlier term "psychical research", during a shift in methodologies which brought experimental methods to the study of psychic phenomena.
[24] In contemporary research, the term 'parapsychology' refers to the study of
psi, a general blanket term used by academic parapsychologists to denote anomalous processes or outcomes.
[26][27][28]
The scientific reality of parapsychological phenomena and the validity of scientific parapsychological research is a matter of frequent dispute and criticism. The field is regarded by critics as a
pseudoscience. Parapsychologists, in turn, say that parapsychological
research is
scientifically rigorous. Despite criticisms, a number of academic institutions now conduct research on the topic, employing laboratory methodologies and statistical techniques, such as
meta-analysis. The
Parapsychological Association is the leading association for parapsychologists and has been a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1969.
[29]
See also
★
State of mind or
Mental state
★
Subjective character of experience
★
Theory of mind
References
1. Ned Block: ''On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness" in: ''The Behavioral and Brain Sciences'', 1995.
2. Problems in the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford Companion to Philosophy, , J., Kim, Oxford University Press, 1995,
3. Phaedo, Plato, , , Clarendon Press, 1995,
4. Robinson, H. (1983): ‘Aristotelian dualism’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 1, 123-44.
5. Nussbaum, M. C. (1984): ‘Aristotelian dualism’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 2, 197-207.
6. Nussbaum, M. C. and Rorty, A. O. (1992): Essays on Aristotle's De Anima, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
7. Sankhya:Hindu philosophy: The Sankhya Sri Swami Sivananda
8. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes, René, , , Hacket Publishing Company, , ISBN 0-87220-421-9
9. Hart, W.D. (1996) "Dualism", in Samuel Guttenplan (org) ''A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind'', Blackwell, Oxford, 265-7.
10. Spinoza, Baruch (1670) ''Tractatus Theologico-Politicus'' (A Theologico-Political Treatise).
11. Kim, J., "Mind-Body Problem", ''Oxford Companion to Philosophy''. Ted Honderich (ed.). Oxford:Oxford University Press. 1995.
12. Pinel, J. ''Psychobiology'', (1990) Prentice Hall, Inc. ISBN 8815071741
13. LeDoux, J. (2002) ''The Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are'', New York:Viking Penguin. ISBN 8870787958
14. Dawkins, R. ''The Selfish Gene'' (1976) Oxford:Oxford University Press. ISBN
15. Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain., Churchland, Patricia, , , MIT Press, 1986, ISBN 0-262-03116-7
16. Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes, Churchland, Paul, , , Journal of Philosophy, 1981
17. Sensations and Brain Processes, Smart, J.J.C., , , Philosophical Review, 1956
18. Essays on Actions and Events, Donald Davidson, , , Oxford University Press, 1980, ISBN 0-19-924627-0
19. Putnam, Hilary (1967). "Psychological Predicates", in W. H. Capitan and D. D. Merrill, eds., ''Art, Mind and Religion'' (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
20. The intentional stance, Dennett, Daniel, , , MIT Press, 1998, ISBN 0-262-54053-3
21. Intentionality. A Paper on the Philosophy of Mind, Searle, John, , , Nachdr. Suhrkamp, 2001, ISBN 3-518-28556-4
22. WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? by John McCarthy[1]
23. http://parapsych.org/glossary_l_r.html#p Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved February 10, 2007
24. Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology edited by J. Gordon Melton Gale Research, ISBN 0-8103-5487-X
25. Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology edited by J. Gordon Melton Gale Research, ISBN 0-8103-5487-X
26. Parapsychology Terms and Definitions
27. http://www.mdani.demon.co.uk/para/paraglos.htm#P Psychic Science.com
28. http://www.parapsych.org/glossary_l_r.html#p The Parapsychological Association, Inc. (PA) is the international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of ‘psi’
29. ''The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena'' by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0
External links
★ "
The Mind is What the Brain Does" - National Geographic article.
★
C.D. Broad, ''
The Mind and Its Place in Nature'', 1925.
★
Abhidhamma: Buddhist Perspective of the Mind and the Mental Functions
★
Thymos - Piero Scaruffi's Studies on Consciousness, Cognition and Life
★
Buddhist View of the Mind
★
Current Scientific Research on the Mind and Brain From
ScienceDaily
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