Exploring the Realm of the Mental (original) (raw)
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Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 2018
Abstract: The first section of this paper outlines the major theme, that “mind” is not the label of something unitary but of a collection of things that can only be revealed by research at three different levels. The first level of enquiry is the account of mind that can be gleaned from what is often referred to as our folk psychology . Even with its limitations, it is an indispensable part of our social interactions. The second section outlines how, with the rise of experimental psychology , our account of human minds has been extended because experimental psychology often reveals a level of factors in our mental life which is not open to ordinary observation. The third section explores how our account of human minds is extended even further by the modern instrument-aided researches at the level of neuropsychology . The fourth section argues that no one level of enquiry should be described as ultimate or dominant but that each level reveals different facts about our mental life. Th...
European Journal of Philosophy
Your belief that Obama is a Democrat wouldn't be the belief that it is if it didn't represent Obama, nor would the pain in your ankle be the state that is if, say, it felt like an itch. Accordingly, it is tempting to hold that phenomenal and representational properties are essential to the mental states that have them. But, as several theorists have forcefully argued (including Kripke (1980) and Burge (1979, 1982)) this attractive idea is seemingly in tension with another equally attractive thesis, namely, physicalism about the mental. In this paper, we show that these seemingly incontrovertible essentialist intuitions are in fact compatible with physicalism. By appealing to a plenitudinous ontology of objects, we argue that there are physical things with which mental states can be identified. This is preferable to existing views that give up the essentiality claims or weaken the physicalist thesis.
THE FOUNDATION: UNDERSTANDING THE NON-PHYSICAL MIND OF MAN
Dear Friends I feel it is time for me to open my thoughts to the World. My brief background that will put things in perspective that some of my friends may not know is that I am a natural lover of philosophy. In my early childhood I was inspired by King Solomon's way of analyzing life and despite not enrolling formally to study philosophy I have passionately studied philosophy in my free time starting somewhere in 1992 when I was at Hillcrest Technical Secondary School. Because of the technical nature of the school most pupils enrolled in Engineering and related fields. In short I studied Civil Engineering at the Copperbelt University and have been practicing in my own firm since the year 2000. Going back to philosophy; my passion has been to understand the Life of Man. In pursuit of this knowledge I have finally come up with a documented theory on understanding the non-physical part of man's being. The physical aspect of man is well covered in a number of scientific studies such as Biology and Psychology. This work deals with fundamental theories of “Knowledge” and “Man” from a philosophical point of view. These two fundamental questions; “what is knowledge”, and “what is man”, are both not convincingly solved in epistemology and pathology which are the respective branches of philosophy that deal with these subject matter. Theories on “knowledge” and “Man”, are fundamental subjects and have great impact on a number of academic and Spiritual subjects in the humanities, social sciences and religious studies. The theories in the book are able to answer most questions in our society that academic and religious theory fall short of. The book is written in simplified manner for easy of understanding of its simple but fundamental theories that have been overlooked by many thinkers. It will help understand the model of development in Africa and associated set backs. It will help understand spirituality and spiritual concepts that current theories are unable to explain. It will explain the working of the subconscious mind and how it can be cultivated to solve our day to day problems among other things. Introducing "The Foundation; Understanding the non-physical Mind of Man."
2005
With the publication of Edward Pols's recent books on the nature of free will (The Acts of Our Being,l982, Univ. of Mass. Press) and knowledge (Radical Realism,1992, Cornell Univ. Press), ithe components were in place for a comprehensive assay of the mind-body problem. It is no surprise, then, that Pols's newest book, Mind Regained (1998, C:ornell Univ. Press), undertakes just such a study, continuing and intensifying his defense of the mind as being able to know reality directly and as being as real as the things it is able to directly know. Like Pols's previous works, Mind Regained is so rich in interrelated content that it defies brief, simple summarizing, so this review will do the next best thing and provide a lengthy, complex summary. As the barest of synopses, however: in the first chapter, Pols makes it clear that, whatever its limitations, the tradition based on Plato and Aristotle was basically right on the issues of knowing, causality, mind, and soul. In three...