an online book by David Gurteen
The 4E cognition perspective sees the mind as an embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended process that emerges from the interactions between the body, environment, and social context. It is not limited to the brain and continuously evolves through our interactions with the world.
The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances, and unconscious processes, which can influence an individual without intention or awareness. The mind plays a central role in most aspects of human life, but its exact nature is disputed. Some characterizations focus on internal aspects, saying that the mind transforms information and is not directly accessible to outside observers. Others stress its relation to outward conduct, understanding mental phenomena as dispositions to engage in observable behavior.
The mind–body problem is the challenge of explaining the relation between matter and mind. Traditionally, mind and matter were often thought of as distinct substances that could exist independently from one another. The dominant philosophical position since the 20th century has been physicalism, which says that everything is material, meaning that minds are certain aspects or features of some material objects. The evolutionary history of the mind is tied to the development of nervous systems, which led to the formation of brains. As brains became more complex, the number and capacity of mental functions increased with particular brain areas dedicated to specific mental functions. Individual human minds also develop over time as they learn from experience and pass through psychological stages in the process of aging. Some people are affected by mental disorders, in which certain mental capacities do not function as they should.
It is widely accepted that at least some non-human animals have some form of mind, but it is controversial to which animals this applies. The topic of artificial minds poses similar challenges and theorists discuss the possibility and consequences of creating them using computers.
The main fields of inquiry studying the mind include psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. They tend to focus on different aspects of the mind and employ different methods of investigation, ranging from empirical observation and neuroimaging to conceptual analysis and thought experiments. The mind is relevant to many other fields, including epistemology, anthropology, religion, and education.
Credit: Wikipedia - mindThinking and spoken discourse are the same thing, except that what we call thinking is, precisely, the inward dialogue carried on by the mind with itself without spoken sound. | Plato Continue reading Thinking and Spoken Discourse Plato
You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. | Marcus Aurelius Continue reading Power Over Mind Marcus Aurelius
Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, and engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards. | Theodore Zeldin Continue reading When Minds Meet Theodore Zeldin
Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought. Every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state, a hummock left by the ice. Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect, and sacrifice the greater to the less. They love the soil … | Henry David Thoreau Continue reading Be a Columbus of the Mind Henry David Thoreau
video player The Future of Reasoning | Michael Stevens Posts where this video is embedded The Argumentative Theory of Human Reason We did not evolve to reason individually but to reason sociallyBooks: Michael Stevens, Dan Sperber, Hugo MercierThe Future of Reasoning Michael StevensVideos: Michael Stevens, Dan Sperber, Hugo MercierThe Future of Reasoning Michael StevensTags: confirmation bias … Continue reading The Future of Reasoning Michael Stevens
Over many years of elementary school, high school, and even college and graduate school, we’re never explicitly taught to think outside the brain; we’re not shown how to employ our bodies and spaces and relationships in the service of intelligent thought. Yet this instruction is available if we know where to look; our teachers are … Continue reading The Extended Mind: the Power of Thinking Outside the Brain by Annie Murphy Paul (2021)
We each view reality from our own unique perspective, only a community of minds can show us the truth. Credit: Timothy Wilken Books: Timothy WilkenOnly a Community of Minds Can Show Us the Truth Timothy WilkenQuotations: Timothy WilkenOnly a Community of Minds Can Show Us the Truth Timothy WilkenTags: community (46) | mind (36) | … Continue reading Only a Community of Minds Can Show Us the Truth Timothy Wilken
In this book, Global Mind Change, Willis Harman elucidates that revolutions are generally thought of as large-scale, bloody upheavals involving whole countries and societies. But there are quieter revolutions that begin in the individual mind and create the kind of change that may be even more significant. By deliberately changing their internal image of reality, … Continue reading Global Mind Change by Willis Harman (1990)
We are living through one of the most fundamental shifts in history- a change in the actual belief structure of Western society. No economic, political, or military power can compare with the power of a change of mind. By deliberately changing their images of reality, people are changing the world. | Willis Harman Continue reading We Are Living Through One of the Most Fundamental Shifts in History Willis Harman
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. | Plutarch Continue reading The Mind Is Not a Vessel to Be Filled but a Fire to Be Kindled Plutarch
Language is not merely a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. It is a flash of the human spirit, the means by which the soul of each particular culture reaches into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the … mind, a watershed of thought, an entire ecosystem of spiritual possibilities. | Wade Davis Continue reading Language Is Not Merely a Body of Vocabulary Wade Davis
We have always struggled as human beings. But our struggle today is exacerbated by a gap between the increasingly complicated world we have created and the default ways we think about it. Twenty-first-century challenges are qualitatively different from those that generations of our ancestors faced, yet our thinking has not evolved to keep pace. We … Continue reading Closing the Mind Gap: Making Smarter Decisions in a Hypercomplex World by Ted Cadsby (2014)
Knowledge only exists in the mind. | David Gurteen Continue reading Knowledge Only Exists in the Mind David Gurteen
Problems only exist in the human mind. | Anthony de Mello Continue reading Problems Only Exist in the Human Mind Anthony de Mello
This is an external resource such as an article, blog. Below is a summary of the key points from the resource, along with a link to the complete article. The full article can be accessed via the link if you would like to read the content in its entirety. Article: Embodied Cognition by Stanford Encyclopedia … Continue reading Embodied Cognition Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2021)
Use of Self Using who we are to be more effective in life Use of Self Using who we are to be more effective in life Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close In a world where meaningful … Continue reading Use of Self Using who we are to be more effective in life
Communication involves both speaking and listening. Traditional research has studied these processes separately within individual brains. This study examines brain activity in speakers and listeners during natural conversation, revealing coupled neural responses that correlate with effective communication. Abstract Verbal communication is a joint activity; however, speech production and comprehension have primarily been analyzed as independent … Continue reading Speaker-listener Neural Coupling Underlies Successful Communication Greg J. Stephens, Lauren J. Silbert, and Uri Hasson (2010)
Conversational Chemistry The Relationship Between Consciousness and Intelligence ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Human consciousness has long puzzled philosophers and scientists. The hard problem of consciousness grapples with explaining how subjective experiences arise from physical … Continue reading The Nature of Consciousness The mystery of the mind
The Relationship Between Consciousness and Intelligence ** Beyond the Brain Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Cognition is a complex process that involves not just our brain but also our physical body, environment, and actions. This is … Continue reading Understanding 4E Cognition The multidimensional nature of cognition
Understanding 4E Cognition Mirror Neurons Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Cognition is a complex process that involves not just our brain but also our physical body, environment, and actions. This is the idea behind 4E cognition, … Continue reading Beyond the Brain The multidimensional nature of cognition
Artificial Intelligence and the Quest for Knowledge The Postproduction Paradigm – AI and the Art of Remixing Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Knowledge exists in our minds, and traditional methods of encoding this knowledge into information … Continue reading From Mind to Information – the Role of AI in Knowledge Encoding The Evolution of Knowledge Encoding
Fundamental Questions About Human Life ** What Is the Purpose of Life? ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close The question of why human life exists is complex and profound and touches upon fundamental questions about the … Continue reading Why Does Human Life Exist? ** Why are we here?
Mirror Neurons Mirror Neurons and Interbrain Synchrony Enhancing Conversation ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Interbrain synchrony occurs when neural activities align between people during social interactions. Understanding this phenomenon can improve communication, teamwork, and learning. … Continue reading Interbrain Synchrony When neural activities align between people during social interactions
Life Is a Conversation ** The Difference Between Dialogue and Debate ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Face-to-face conversation is far more than just communication. When we have a conversation, we don’t just exchange information. That’s … Continue reading Conversation Is More Than Communication Conversation shapes our lives
What is global consciousness? Before answering that question, we need to look at the terms consciousness, collective consciousness, and higher consciousness as they are poorly understood. Continue reading Global Consciousness The capacity and disposition to understand and act upon global issues
What Are Morals? The Argumentative Theory of Human Reason Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Knowledge … Knowledge Our mind contains beliefs. We don’t know how these beliefs are stored, but it does not matter for my … Continue reading Knowledge and Information ** Knowledge and information are different substances
Knowledge and Information ** The Knowledge Delusion Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close The argumentative theory of reasoning proposes that reason did not evolve to help us to reason individually but to reason together – in other … Continue reading The Argumentative Theory of Human Reason We did not evolve to reason individually but to reason socially
What is the difference between information and knowledge? Continue reading Knowledge Only Exists in the Mind Everything else is information
Knowledge Is Communal Opinion Polarization Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Knowledge and cognition extend beyond our brains, involving people and objects around us. This distributed cognition means our thinking and decision-making are influenced by external factors. … Continue reading The Extended Mind The power of distributed cognition
Filter Bubbles, Epistemic Bubbles and Echo Chambers Motivated Reasoning ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts or tendencies that our brain uses to process information and make judgments. They can lead us … Continue reading What Are Cognitive Biases? Mistakes in reasoning, evaluating or remembering
Our World Is Complex Our Old Ways Are Failing Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Humans are extraordinarily complex, shaped by billions of years of evolution. Understanding human systems is challenging because they differ from natural or … Continue reading We Humans Are Complex Human socio-technical systems are complex
Our Brains Are Designed for Conversation Thinking Together Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close A powerful metaphor for exploring group thinking is the idea of connecting minds. Connecting minds is a common metaphor when we talk about … Continue reading Connecting Minds Connecting and synchronising minds
When It Comes to Lectures, Appearances Can Be Deceiving ** Learn to Listen and to Tell the Truth Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Whether it is our educational systems or the presentations we give at conferences, … Continue reading The Mind Is a Fire to Be Kindled Not a vessel to be filled
Peer Instruction Vs. Peer Learning Learn by Talking Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close How can we effectively share knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge, which cannot be easily encoded into information or implicit knowledge that is not consciously … Continue reading Sharing Knowledge Through Conversation Knowledge isn’t there the way ore is buried
