November 2009 Archives
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Mind is a branch of modern analytic philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as the central issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body.
Most modern philosophers of mind adopt either a reductive or non-reductive physicalist position, maintaining in their different ways that the mind is not something separate from the body. These approaches have been particularly influential in the sciences, especially in the fields of sociobiology, computer science, evolutionary psychology and the various neurosciences. Other philosophers, however, adopt a non-physicalist position which challenges the notion that the mind is a purely physical construct. Reductive physicalists assert that all mental states and properties will eventually be explained by scientific accounts of physiological processes and states. Non-reductive physicalists argue that although the brain is all there is to the mind, the predicates and vocabulary used in mental descriptions and explanations are indispensable, and cannot be reduced to the language and lower-level explanations of physical science. Continued neuroscientific progress has helped to clarify some of these issues. However, they are far from having been resolved, and modern philosophers of mind continue to ask how the subjective qualities and the intentionality (aboutness) of mental states and properties can be explained in naturalistic terms.
Philosophy of Mind and Science
Humans are corporeal beings and, as such, they are subject to examination and description by the natural sciences. Since mental processes are intimately related to bodily processes, the descriptions that the natural sciences furnish of human beings play an important role in the philosophy of mind. There are many scientific disciplines that study processes related to the mental. The list of such sciences includes: biology, computer science, cognitive science, cybernetics, linguistics, medicine, pharmacology, and psychology.
Neurobiology
Within the field of neurobiology, there are many subdisciplines which are concerned with the relations between mental and physical states and processes: Sensory neurophysiology investigates the relation between the processes of perception and stimulation. Cognitive neuroscience studies the correlations between mental processes and neural processes. Neuropsychology describes the dependence of mental faculties on specific anatomical regions of the brain. Lastly, evolutionary biology studies the origins and development of the human nervous system and, in as much as this is the basis of the mind, also describes the ontogenetic and phylogenetic development of mental phenomena beginning from their most primitive stages.
Psychology
Psychology is the science that investigates mental states directly. It uses generally empirical methods to investigate concrete mental states like joy, fear or obsessions. Psychology investigates the laws that bind these mental states to each other or with inputs and outputs to the human organism.
An example of this is the psychology of perception. Scientists working in this field have discovered general principles of the perception of forms. A law of the psychology of forms says that objects that move in the same direction are perceived as related to each other. This law describes a relation between visual input and mental perceptual states. However, it does not suggest anything about the nature of perceptual states. The laws discovered by psychology are compatible with all the answers to the mind-body problem already described.
Philosophy of Mind in the Continental Tradition
Most of the discussion in this article has focused on one style or tradition of philosophy in modern Western culture, usually called analytic philosophy (sometimes described as Anglo-American philosophy). Many other schools of thought exist, however, which are sometimes subsumed under the broad label of continental philosophy. In any case, though topics and methods here are 
numerous, in relation to the philosophy of mind the various schools that fall under this label (phenomenology, existentialism, etc.) can globally be seen to differ from the analytic school in that they focus less on language and logical analysis alone but also take in other forms of understanding human existence and experience. With reference specifically to the discussion of the mind, this tends to translate into attempts to grasp the concepts of thought and perceptual experience in some sense that does not merely involve the analysis of linguistic forms.
Philosophy of Mind in the Eastern Tradition
Eastern traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism do not hold to the dualistic mind/body model but do assert that the mind and body are separate entities. Buddhism in particular does not hold to the notion of a soul, or atman. Some forms of Buddhism assert that a very subtle level of mind leaves the body at the time of death and goes to a new life. According to Buddhist scholar Dharmakirti, the definition of mind is that which is clarity and cognizes. In this definition, ‘clarity’ refers to the nature of mind, and ‘cognizes’ to the function of mind. Mind is clarity because it always lacks form and because it possesses the actual power to perceive objects. Mind cognizes because its function is to know or perceive objects. In Ornament of the Seven Sets, Buddhist scholar Khedrubje says that thought, awareness, mind and cognizer are synonyms. Buddha explained that although mind lacks form, it can nevertheless be related to form. Thus, our mind is related to our body and is “located” at different places throughout the body. This is to be understood in the context of how the five sense consciousnesses and the mental consciousness are generated. There are many different types of mind—sense awarenesses, mental awarenesses, gross minds, subtle minds, and very subtle minds—and they are all formless (lacking shape, color, sound, smell, taste or tactile properties) and they all function to cognize or know. There is no such thing as a mind without an object known by that mind. Even though none of these minds is form, they can be related to form.
Consequences of Philosophy of Mind
There are countless subjects that are affected by the ideas developed in the philosophy of mind. Clear examples of this are the nature of death and its definitive character, the nature of emotion, of perception and of memory. Questions about what a person is and what his or her identity consists of also have much to do with the philosophy of mind. There are two subjects that, in connection with the philosophy of the mind, have aroused special attention: free will and the self.
Free Will
In the context of philosophy of mind, the problem of free will takes on renewed intensity. 
This is certainly the case, at least, for materialistic determinists. According to this position, natural laws completely determine the course of the material world. Mental states, and therefore the will as well, would be material states, which means human behavior and decisions would be completely determined by natural laws. Some take this reasoning a step further: people cannot determine by themselves what they want and what they do. Consequently, they are not free.
This argumentation is rejected, on the one hand, by the compatibilists. Those who adopt this position suggest that the question “Are we free?” can only be answered once we have determined what the term “free” means. The opposite of “free” is not “caused” but “compelled” or “coerced”. It is not appropriate to identify freedom with indetermination. A free act is one where the agent could have done otherwise if it had chosen otherwise. In this sense a person can be free even though determinism is true. The most important compatibilist in the history of the philosophy was David Hume. More recently, this position is defended, for example, by Daniel Dennett, and, from a dual-aspect perspective, by Max Velmans.
On the other hand, there are also many incompatibilists who reject the argument because they believe that the will is free in a stronger sense called libertarianism. These philosophers affirm the course of the world is either a) not completely determined by natural laws and deterministic natural law is broken by dualistic sentient beings, or b) determined by indeterministic natural law only, or c) determined by indeterministic natural law in line with the will of a non physical agency. Under Libertarianism, the will does not have to be deterministic and, therefore, it is potentially free. Critics of the second proposition (b) accuse the incompatibilists of using an incoherent concept of freedom. They argue as follows: if our will is not determined by anything, then we desire what we desire by pure chance. And if what we desire is purely accidental, we are not free. So if our will is not determined by anything, we are not free.
The Self
The philosophy of mind also has important consequences for the concept of self. If by “self” or “I” one refers to an essential, immutable nucleus of the person, most modern philosophers of mind will affirm that no such thing exists. The idea of a self as an immutable essential nucleus derives from the idea of an immaterial soul. Such an idea is unacceptable to most contemporary philosophers, due to their physicalistic orientations, and due to a general acceptance among philosophers of the scepticism of the concept of ’self’ by David Hume, who could never catch himself doing, thinking or feeling anything. However, in the light of empirical results from developmental psychology, developmental biology and neuroscience, the idea of an essential inconstant, material nucleus – an integrated representational system distributed over changing patterns of synaptic connections – seems reasonable. The view of the self as an illusion is widely accepted by many philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett and Thomas Metzinger.
Hope you enjoyed!! Compliments of Wikipedia
My Gemini Man
Written For Thomas (Samson)
Since I have found My Gemini Man,
He has helped Me to be, All that I can.
He’s compassionate touch, though to some it’s not much,
Quickly reminds Me, We fit phy-si-cal-ly.
This devoted feeling, is all I do need,
Which He’s shown me so deep, from the very First seed.
He’s swift, strong & loyal, but sensitive too!
His intelligence forces Me, to think, then to do!
All faith believed in, with that I hold dear.
We support ourselves through, and when I need he hears!
I enjoy him my soulmate, with him, life does flow
When I see him, he’s smiling, his face, all a glow 
Always happy to see me, he’s my closest friend.
It’s relief, to be near him… ‘Til the bitter end!
Pisces with Gemini
These two mutable signs each share relaxed, flexible, dispositions and a love of people, but they have very different styles that they may not get on as smoothly as one would expect. Pisces(that’s me), a water sign, speaks the language of emotions while Gemini (Samson), an air sign, speaks the language of ideas. It’s easy for misunderstandings to occur, since Gemini doesn’t always mean what it says and Pisces can’t always say what it means. (So very true)
Also, Gemini’s cool detachment is in direct contrast to Pisces’ emotional intensity. But this pair can share their thoughts and feelings honestly, the Gemini objectivity and the Pisces insight could be good for both individuals — and for the relationship 
So with a little care, these two, with their shared love of adventure and delight in new experiences, could have a great deal of fun both in and out of the bedroom!
A Memorable Way of Life
Theoretically speaking, what if people could predict the future due to different types life experiences they had in their past? You know, the ones they can hear? It is known, that the ears can pick up sound waves long before (prenatal) the physical eyes can actually see (postnatal). It also takes much longer for the eye to process the information once a visual memory is officially seen. In turn, this could leave a scar in the memory which could influence the brain on many levels.
In my family, for the lack of a better example, that means, “Go directly to jail; Do not pass Go; Do not collect your thoughts while we stomp on you a little harder. Unless, of course, you decide to complete your educational career in the direction of The Arts, Music, Business, and/or Technology. All while making sure you stay in church, any church that is, which is exactly why, I still attend today. Keep your children safe and warm and they shall not be the center of harm. These oh so twisted, bedtgime melodies are still to this day, bouncing off the walls of my brain and are caused by my deeper prenatal, postnatal, and remainder of my childhood memorys. Hearing can have the most deep impact on a human embryo & fetus, especially when a woman is deeply depressed during her pregnancy. Since sound only travels straight it can only bounce off of the walls in the brain until it is a dead sound. That is, until the sound becomes mute, but does it ever really go away? I think that it gets stored in your sub-memory or in other words, files within files within files in that category and the sub-category thereafter.
One fact is that hearing, in connection with the brain, is one of the deepest mysteries of the sensory region. Also, in the storage area, which is of course is your memory. If a person can think logically in a rational situation they could not possibly explain their issues to someone else, while they are in a hysterical state of mind. Getting the feeling of a deeper understanding of the subject-at-hand, usually comes with bad news. Have you ever, actually, sat on a park bench alone, on a nice warm spring day, while the leaves were tumbling along the sidewalk? After a brief step inside your thoughts, you could have sworn you heard a footstep, just a few inches behind you. Somewhat frieghtened, you turn around, adrenaline rears its ugly head, as if someone had been following you and much to your dismay, there’s no one really on your tail. In fact, the tone of a shoe where the sole hit the pavement is something we’ve all, probably heard it before just the same. This could also coinside with something bad happening or with something brandingly good happening when you heard that particular sound. Did you ever feel like you were going crazy? How about those of you who just “know” you’re imagining it and don’t even turn around like the big tough-guy that you are??? Lol.
As children, I am positive that we all took an extra little double-take, every now and then, just to make sure what we saw or heard was really not there to begin with. I know, I did. Truth be told, it was your imagination playing tricks on you, or was it? When I think about the imagination, it somehow brings me back to childhood and the trips to Disney World in Florida. If anyone had the chance to visit this amazing fantasy land, you would know that Figment the flying Dragon is really what makes your imagination run wild. Really it makes my mind do a 360 when I think back to all of the twisted truths I was told as a child.
Imagine that your hearing could be much better than your sight, even if you have 20/20 vision. It is extremely difficult to understand,if you are looking from the angle that you can see before you hear. Retrain your mind to better understand that you can hear first but can not see until after birth. When you finally come to the conclusion that you can hear before you see, miraculously you may have a more humble vision of how life happenings were usually intended, orginally.
Humorously, the math geeks would probably ask you, if you know, the theory’s behind quantum physics, optics, mechanics and if you know what E=MC2 means, first. I’ve heard so many older people in urban communities saying ”what that means is you’re not living right!” Maybe it is, really, because you’ve heard the same bullshit, in the same tones, from the same people, for numerous years and it quickly was branded in your brain, like the lot number on a cow’s right hoof. Sort of like a natural self-demolishing/cleansing, brainwash session. Are you really remembering the bits and pieces of the event that you wanted to take with you? Or did your “behind the scenes,” sub-minded greed taking over you? Once instilled as good and now driven down lifes dramatic path of political incorrectness.
Life in America was meant to be a meltingpot of opportunities for people from all nations to get together and unite as one single nation, undivided. I can still hear Martin Luther King’s, ”I have a dream,” speech faintly spoken in the back of my mind Funny how it is not even close to being as liberalized as it already has been in Western Europe for years. I found that together as a united “region,” they take better care of their land and the people who reside on the land. Ultimately, creating less crime, less political difference, less disowned family members, and in the end a more united place for people to live, dream, work, play, love, learn and enjoy their life more freely, thus to preserve their way of living. I will never forget the deeply moving experiences I was able to endure while visiting here in a liberalized country. Which is what the democratic party of America, has always hoped would someday become a part of our traduce nation. Moved in a way that not many people could understand at first glance.
This is one of the most serene places, I have ever visited. Finally I received my chance to rest my weary mind. Not to mention, I am here in Maastricht, NL and it is one of the oldest lands in the world, generally. Unbelievably, less than 250 km away from here is around-about where my very own ancestors came from. That is before they took the plunge and came accross the great Atlantic Ocean and settled in the area of Oaks, Pennsylvania, which then spread to Norristown and also King of Prussia. Lots of history in the region I grew up in, especially with George Washington and the battles at Valley Forge, long ago. This land, I stand on, dates back to the old stone age (between 8,000-25,000 years ago). Celts lived here 500 years before the Romans which evolved to what is now one of Europes oldest cities. As a matter of fact, it’s the oldest place I’ve ever been. Before this the oldest place I stepped foot on was somewhere along the East Coast of North America. It’s possible that the land was not even “founded” and “established” until 1492 or after. I’m sure a few of my friends who still have Authenic American Indian Roots could relate with me on this point. It’s really hard for me not to be able to “relate” with so many different cultures, given my multi-racial heritage and by being raised in a moderately liberal family. However, some people are just a little harder to judge, at first. Sometimes makes you think, how high you should place a blood family member and their opinionated views, on a pedistal in your life.
I believe that most family members don’t know how to be humble, because they never got caught in their sin & ended in prision. Some family members are closer than others but you still can’t figure out why they were the ones to initiate a false fraud claim on their own daughters. Is this nation ready for people like me? People who can see two or three sides of the story before it even gets to the third page.
Maybe you can relate to this example, where maybe the words that you were taught in the past, all somehow came out to be a grand fisod of what you thought to be a family united. Maybe it is communication, maybe it is hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling what could possibly have been. But in the end all you’ll get is a fairy-tale unless you actually got the words from the horses mouth.
Well, I guess we all can learn a lesson in this one… that lesson being to hold your family closer than your arch rival and not the other way around because one day, when you least expect it… they potentially could turn their back on you first. Well, isn’t life such a mystery? Does it really have to be.
Sources: TwizzTed Tiffi & Uncle Tom
Inbox Manipulation: TwizzTed Tiffi
Well, I sure have had some exciting times socializing on Facebook this past week! Check out this inbox message I got from one of my Ex-Facebook Friends (I don’t personally know him).
On November 1st I posted a status and told my Fb buddies that they could have freedom of Speech on my page (as usual), then some random person made a statement referring to “not even being allowed to mention the word Palestine” so this Homer Duffman fellow got EXTREMELY offended on the spot talking about the goings on in palestine and how the conditions there are horrible, and they are but it had nothing to do with the conversations that were happening on my pofile that day. Immediately after I realized the the man made Homer mad, I went to Homers page to chat with him there (after researching the Palestine issue myself) and he had already deleted me (pitty)… so I sent him and inbox message and this is how it went:
TwizzTed Tiffi November 1 at 3:28pm 
bank,sweetheart.I am sorry you don’t feel comfortable with yourself,how you look and how you feel about the person you are.I could probably help you with a lot of your issues,but what’s in it for me? You have a boyfriend or whatever,make his lazy ass get a job and help you.Or become a stripper,show your pussy to strangers for cash.See how cold that sounds? I knew all about you before I let you be my friend,just reading your posts on other people’s walls.I feel bad that you have cried so much,allowed people to change you,make you live in a world that has no real use for you.Your self-esteem is in the gutter,you want to be everyone’s friend,I know you.Let me guess,you have let guys have sex with you just for attention,right? You didn’t have the clothes or the money or the nice house, so you found a safe place in taking your panties off and proving to yourself you are worth something by letting some dude dump a load in you,right? We can talk if you are willing to be real-if you just want to keep up the fake talk,I can’t help you. and u don’t let me be your friend…. i choose you at random, how does that make you feel? oh yeah, and i ONLY “FUCKED” people who i had a relationship with, and most of them were not good enough for me, cause i think highly of myself–> cause my mama taught me that! Why don’t you get a “hard”labor job cause you need not spread your bullshit around to helpless people, god damned scientology fucker!!! i hate people like you, thinking you know it all…. even the real preachers have more knowledge than you… GO TO COLLEGE, it’s never too late to educate…. you wanna know me read my life… www.mylife.tooreal.org, sorry i don’t want to know you! Enjoy your life Spasti };-)
I am sorry for your bad experiences with woman, but if you allow yourself to judge so general, you might be good for a boot camp, but not as partner in a sense making conversation. it’s a pitty, as there is some potential.
Homer Duffman November 2 at 8:17pm
Summary of Thought
Don’t keep idiots around in your facebook friends list, Don’t steal your friends’ friends, if you don’t know someone personally, don’t give them any part of you until they earn it first. Don’t add your name to any of those facebook groups if you never researched the group yourself. Don’t give out your address/phone number on your facebook profile. Don’t accept peoples requests that say a friend of yours referred them to you, cause everyone can see your friends list, talk to your friend first and find out.
You never know, who is Stalking your profile!!!
Does anyone have a comical way for me to respond to him next…. the more out of this world, the better!
Time to fuck with those who like to fuck with others, just to see how they like it.
Don’t be a Spasti