What Are Minds?
Brain-Mind March 7, 2019 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190678715.003.0001 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that mind is best understood through a "three-analysis" of examples, features, and explanations rather than a definition, and that cognitive science's mental representations and processes are compatible with a broader mechanistic account encompassing social, neural, and molecular mechanisms, in which complex mechanisms can have emergent properties. |
Abstract
Abstract: Rather than define the concept of mind, this chapter gives it a “three-analysis” in terms of standard examples such as various people’s intelligence; typical features such as perception, problem solving, emotions, and consciousness; and explanations such as why people behave as they do. Competing explanations of how the mind works have identified it as soul, computer, brain, dynamical system, or social construction. Cognitive science explains mind as operating with mental representations and processes. These mental mechanisms are compatible with a broader account that includes social, neural, and molecular mechanisms. Mechanisms are combinations of interconnected parts that produce regular changes, and complex mechanisms can have emergent properties that belong to wholes but not to their parts.
Citations in the library
Cites 9
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- A common neural code for similar conscious experiences in different individuals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences September 15, 2014
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- A higher-order theory of emotional consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences February 15, 2017
- Anesthesia and neuroimaging: investigating the neural correlates of unconsciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences January 12, 2015
and 4 more in the library