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Topic: Re:How are mental operations observed?
Posted by: annou2
Date/Time: 2010/8/5 23:27:57

My fuzzy question was, I think, really about the current meaning(s) of "mental" in the discipline of psychology.?G. E. Moore, one of the founders of linguistic analysis, did a powerful?article on "consciousness of a patch of blue" in which he goes to interminable lengths to distinguish the "patch of blue" from "consciousness of".?(Yes, his student Wittgenstein talks like a Skinnerian at times -- but at other times not,)?

I once did a little bit of research on the word "consciousness" and as best I could discover it seems that its usual contemporary meaning?("awareness"), began to emerge, sort of, with Descartes and his meaning of "pensee" and, of course, the "cogito".?But it was only w ith Locke that it was fairly well?distinguished from "mind".?("Mind" means a highly complex reality which includes some objects of consciousness, e.g., images, concepts, feelings, as well as the many varied operations being considered here, plus much, much more.)

The reality I'm trying to talk about is our activity of *being-aware-of* -- not just being aware of external things, but also the *being-aware-of* internal activities (e.g., being-aware-of sensing, being-aware-of judging, being-aware-of putting things in serial order, being-aware-of hoping, commanding, suffering, etc., etc., etc., and perhaps most amazingly of all?*being-aware-of being aware*.?(I think the Buddhists have a lot to teach the West about cs. and states of mind, but one doesn't see the relevance unless some very, very sharp distinctions are made.)?

"Mind"?of course, has interested philosophers since at least Heraclitus with his notion of "nous", bu t?even the scholastics with all their sharp distinctions of va rious sorts, didn't get down to distinguishing "consciousness-of" from the *objects* of consciousness or from that highly complex reality, mind (mens, mensa) which *includes* cs.-of as a part.?Oh, they had a great deal to say about mind and mental activities/operations, especially the logical ones, but not about the simple act of being-conscious-of.

Looks to me like Skinner took the easy way out and effectively denied there is such a thing as cs.-of by ignoring his very own experience.?But from my limited reading of Piaget I don't think he did, and I was wondering if he and other psychologists have retained the not-so-old notion that an intentional act has both 1) an object (real or not, complex or not, invented by mind or not) and 2) consciousness-of the object.?Consciousness is a big topic for phenomenologists, of course, but have they had any influence on the experimental?psychologists?

It's just that looking into myself I find at least one constant -- consciousness-of.?Yes, it's the string that holds Hume's "bundle of perceptions" together, and I'm just wondering if psychologists these days are interested in it.


Entire Thread

Topic(Point at the topics to see relevant reminders)Date PostedPosted By
How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 22:59:56Richard Meinhard
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:04:41Michael Lamport Commons
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:05:30Richard Meinhard
               Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:06:54Trevor Bond
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:07:57Leslie Smith
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:15:00Michael Lamport Commons
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:09:52Michael Lamport Commons
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:11:02Michael Lamport Commons
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:13:13Michael Lamport Commons
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/7 13:04:58aj malerstein
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/7 13:06:38joe becker
               Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/7 13:09:36
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/7 13:08:35Leslie Smith
               Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2015/9/12 4:30:46ycfolsli
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:19:00Leslie Smith
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/17 23:13:07Orlando Martins Lourenço
               Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/17 23:13:48Leslie Smith
                    Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:23:48joe becker
                         Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:26:32Michael Lamport Commons
                              Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:27:36aj malerstein
                              Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:28:24aj malerstein
                                   Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:29:29Michael Lamport Commons
                                        Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:32:24joe becker
                                        Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:33:12
                                             Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:34:14joe becker
                                             Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:35:33Michael Lamport Commons
                                                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:36:16joe becker
                                   Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:31:38Michael Lamport Commons
                                        Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:38:12aj malerstein
                                             Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:38:57Michael Lamport Commons
                                             Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:41:30Michael Lamport Commons
                                                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:42:48Michael Lamport Commons
                                                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:44:01aj malerstein
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:21:44aj malerstein
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:22:50Leslie Smith
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:27:57annou2
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:29:15Maria Judith
               Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:30:03annou2
               Re:Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/8/5 23:31:02Richard Meinhard
     The two references mistakes2010/8/7 13:11:25Richard Meinhard
          Re:The two references mistakes2015/9/12 4:30:46lqdajtgq
     Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:25:07annou2
          Re:Re:How are mental operations observed?2010/9/19 23:25:47joe becker

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