Is there such a thing as "the mind" and if there is where is it?

"The no-mind thesis doesn’t mean that people are ‘merely bodies’. Instead, it means that, when faced with a whole person, we shouldn’t think that they can be divided into a ‘mind’ and a ‘body’, or that their properties can be neatly carved up between the ‘mental’ and the ‘non-mental’.

[The no-mind thesis posits a] view of human beings as a big bundle of overlapping, intelligent systems in near-constant communication, is increasingly defended in cognitive science and biology.

When people talk of ‘the mind’ and ‘the mental’, the no-mind thesis doesn’t deny that they’re talking about something – on the contrary, they’re often talking about too many things at once.

Sometimes, when speaking of ‘the mind’, people really mean agency; other times, cognition; still others, consciousness; some uses of ‘mental’ really mean psychiatric; others psychological; others still immaterial; and yet others, something else. This conceptual blurriness is fatal to the usefulness of the idea of ‘the mind’.

From an essay by Joe Gough, in full here https://tinyurl.com/ynkya2rp

Podacast: https://tinyurl.com/2p8e7hbt

Thoughts?

@fmf said
Is there such a thing as "the mind" and if there is where is it?

"The no-mind thesis doesn’t mean that people are ‘merely bodies’. Instead, it means that, when faced with a whole person, we shouldn’t think that they can be divided into a ‘mind’ and a ‘body’, or that their properties can be neatly carved up between the ‘mental’ and the ‘non-mental’.

[The no-mind thesi ...[text shortened]... ull here https://tinyurl.com/ynkya2rp

Podacast: https://tinyurl.com/2p8e7hbt

Thoughts?

The mind is a bucketful of thoughts, without the bucket.

@fmf said
Is there such a thing as "the mind" and if there is where is it?

"The no-mind thesis doesn’t mean that people are ‘merely bodies’. Instead, it means that, when faced with a whole person, we shouldn’t think that they can be divided into a ‘mind’ and a ‘body’, or that their properties can be neatly carved up between the ‘mental’ and the ‘non-mental’.

[The no-mind thesi ...[text shortened]... ull here https://tinyurl.com/ynkya2rp

Podacast: https://tinyurl.com/2p8e7hbt

Thoughts?

We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

@fmf said
Is there such a thing as "the mind" and if there is where is it?

"The no-mind thesis doesn’t mean that people are ‘merely bodies’. Instead, it means that, when faced with a whole person, we shouldn’t think that they can be divided into a ‘mind’ and a ‘body’, or that their properties can be neatly carved up between the ‘mental’ and the ‘non-mental’.

[The no-mind thesi ...[text shortened]... ull here https://tinyurl.com/ynkya2rp

Podacast: https://tinyurl.com/2p8e7hbt

Thoughts?

I can't tell you exactly where our mind is located, but would suggest if you didn't have one, your rating would be well below 1000 😏

@mchill said
I can't tell you exactly where our mind is located, but would suggest if you didn't have one, your rating would be well below 1000

Where is "the mind" located?

@fmf said
Where is "the mind" located?

Please read what I just wrote. 🙂

@fmf said
Where is "the mind" located?

I think we are creatures created, body, soul, and spirit, with the soul being what many call the mind. I cannot prove it, but I don't think the brain is our mind. The brain regulates our body, allowing us to be a part of this life, and performs many discussed tasks. We can lose much of our bodies but remain the person we are; something leaves the body and moves on when we die.

@kellyjay said
I cannot prove it, but I don't think the brain is our mind. The brain regulates our body, allowing us to be a part of this life, and performs many discussed tasks.

Do you believe we can still think ~ and have access to the unique narrative that is the basis of our identity ~ even if our brain is inoperative or gone?

@fmf said
Do you believe we can still think ~ and have access to the unique narrative that is the basis of our identity ~ even if our brain is inoperative or gone?

We are living souls; if we are asleep or in a coma, we are. We are human beings, not human doings; it is who we are.

@kellyjay said
We are living souls; if we are asleep or in a coma, we are.

Thank you for your assertion about "souls".

Once again: Do you believe we can still think even if our brain is inoperative or gone?

Do you think the source and generator of thoughts is the mind?

@kellyjay said
We are human beings, not human doings; it is who we are.

What "human doings" do you think human beings can achieve ~ while retaining their humanity ~ without a mind [as it has been conventionally understood]?

@fmf said
Thank you for your assertion about "souls".

Once again: Do you believe we can still think even if our brain is inoperative or gone?

Do you think the source and generator of thoughts is the mind?

Yes, we are living souls; that is what makes us who we are; inside this body, no matter how damaged the body is, our souls are untouched by that. When we put off this corruptible body for an incorruptible one, I'm sure we will be made aware of all of the trials and tribulations we went through in this life. How much of it still is aware, when we go through bodily damage, I have no idea. You can believe or disbelieve many of the stories where people rose from their bodies in near-death experiences, what rose?

@fmf said
What "human doings" do you think human beings can achieve ~ while retaining their humanity ~ without a mind [as it has been conventionally understood]?

???

@kellyjay said
???

If you're not interested in this question, it's OK.

@kellyjay said
Yes, we are living souls; that is what makes us who we are; inside this body, no matter how damaged the body is, our souls are untouched by that.

I don't think you are actually defining a "soul" here.

It "makes us who we are, inside this body", OK. I get that.

But what is "it"?