Specifically, does Will's mind exist? Someone needs to argue that minds are not real.
Does the thought of a cookie in Will's mind exist? Is there anyway to prove scientifically that Will's mind does exist?
How does this discussion (that you will generate below) relate to today's reading about realism & anti-realism?
No my mind does not exist. It has deteriorated due to years and years of being addicted to coffee. And there is no way to scientifically prove that my mind exist because it doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteHow are you thinking then if your mind doesn't exist? What exactly is the mind? Does everyone have a mind? How can you process your thoughts and type them into words? How can you even think about not thinking that you don't have a mind? If you don't have a mind, what do you have? Where is the knowledge coming from? We can't see or observe the mind, but clearly something is there doing work. How can we test the mind? How can we prove it? How can we disprove it? How do we even know the mind even functions or how do we know its the mind that does all the functioning? Realistically, I believe that minds exist...but right now I'm confused by my own questions and thoughts that I'm starting to wonder if minds even do exist. I'm so confused that the word mind is starting to look and sound like a fake word. Perhaps I've had too much coffee myself.
DeleteWhy does one have to be thinking all the time? Is that what is means to have a mind? If I ask someone what they are thinking and they say nothing, I know they are lying because even if you are thinking about nothing you are thinking about the aspect of thinking about nothing…mind blown. Where does the mind come from? I could ponder that question all day. I could think of scientific reasons on why our brain and mind works, of course I wouldn't fully understand it because I am not a nursing or biology major. But it is crazy to me to think that one day humans were able to think and form ideas in their minds. And I feel sorry for you coffee drinkers because my mind runs crazy as it is I could possibly imagine it all hyped up on coffee.
DeleteThe idea of a mind's existence is relative to anti-realism in the idea that it can't simply be observed by the human eye. The mind appears to be an unobservable part of reality, in which we cannot actually obtain knowledge due to our limits in observation. But with this being said, it does not mean that the mind doesn't exist. Realists state that our scientific knowledge is not limited to our observation. They believe that some of our best scientific theories entail unobservable entities. Many of these theories have a high level of empirical success, but an empirical success can only determine that an unobservable entity is partly true as opposed to precisely true.
ReplyDeleteDo you believe that Will has a mind? Does his mind exist? So even though we can't observe his mind or test it...we should just believe it? How is that scientific? How is it empirical data? We don't have objective data so how can one come to that conclusion?
DeleteIf you want to speak in technicalities, we're not really sure of anything outside of what we can perceive in this instant (this does not mean that our perception is actually true, but it is "true" to the individual). Those things that lie beyond we take on faith, such as the existence of Will's mind. How do you know that anything truly exists outside of your own head at this very moment in time? I think that this is where we acknowledge that there are things that are not definite, but we must assume their existence in order to function in the world. You cannot just disregard them because they are abstract or unobservable because this stifles creativity and the advancement of knowledge. This is why the realists believe that theories only have to be true in general. We may get the details wrong, but theories give us insight into the workings of nature and the world around us. Can we prove that Will's mind exists scientifically? Probably not, unless we make some miraculous discovery in the future that enables us to do so. Human interactions are critical for individuals to thrive, however, so we assume that others exist similarly to ourselves. This allows us to go through life. I'm not sure if any of that made sense, or if I was communicating my thoughts well… I'm interested to get somebody else's opinion on the subject.
DeleteAndy I think I followed you well and your ideas are well developed. What you said makes sense. We have to rely on the fact that Will's mind exists so we can go through life. The idea of a mind not existing just doesn't seem to work. In my eyes I see the mind as a storehouse of ideas and experiences that build our memory and makes us human. The mind is why we have science in the first place. It's why we have the ability to think and process information. I don't think we should have to develop a method of proving that the mind does exist when it's already such a fundamental part of life.
DeleteThanks Nate! I liked the model that you proposed for the mind, picturing it as a storehouse for ideas and experiences. Maybe the question isn't whether the mind exists, but whether we should care if it truly exists or not? It could merely be a human construct to explain the functioning of the brain, but this doesn't have to change the way we go about life. Humans have assumed the mind's existence for years and have been able to thrive regardless of whether it was actually real or not. The only implications of the mind's existence would be in the area of metaphysics, which is philosophy and not a hard science. There is no need to provide empirical evidence at that point.
DeleteNate, I like your idea about the mind being a storehouse for ideas and experiences. I also think that there is another part to our mind though, that allows us to come up with new ideas and explore our imaginations. I like to use a computer as an example. You can save your files to the hard drive, but then you can also open those files again later and make changes to them or you could create brand new files. I think there are many other analogies that could be used to describe the mind but it is difficult to understand exactly how they work without getting into psychology. Psychology could help us answer question like 'What causes mental disorders or memory loss or other things like that?' These are all things that affect people's minds but everyone's minds are different so it makes it more difficult to study them.
DeleteAccording to the modern philosophy of science, it is essential to provide empirical evidence for something to be considered real. Empirical evidence is considered to be tangible or publicly observable. This creates some difficulty in trying to determine the existence of the mind. We cannot touch the mind, nor can we see/observe it. So does this mean that according to science we should conclude that the mind does not exist because it cannot be touched or seen? This is certainly not the case. By looking deeper into the logic that relates to the concept of the mind, it is possible to find an explanation for the mind's existence, despite the fact that a mind cannot be touched or seen.
ReplyDeleteI think that minds do exist because we can form our own thoughts, opinions, and ideas. The best evidence that suggests that we do have a mind is the fact that we can formulate our own thoughts. As humans, we have emotions that help us deal with certain situations. Many people suggest that the reason that computers cannot be made to think in the same way that humans do because they can't learn new information so there is no way for them to develop a new idea.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that minds exist. That being said this isn't something that can really be tested or proven. I think we need to belief this because this is what makes us feel different from our peers. Its something that makes us stand out from others. It would be hard for us to grasp that minds do not exist when we all think differently and thats just very radical for many people.
ReplyDeleteChris, I like how you say that we should believe that minds exist because it is what makes us different from our peers. That statement made me think of the argument that someone mentioned in class during a similar discussion: "Does it really matter whether minds exist or not?" We have the ability to think and reason and express our emotions. Humans share similar characteristics when it comes to how we think but we all have different opinions, thoughts, and ideas. It is important to question the existence of minds but is the answer really significant to us?
Delete