MIND
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2126 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
No definition!
The New American Heritage Dictionary — for example — gives 11 different definitions of “mind”, some of them quite difficult to compatibilize with others. So, none is given here.
Systemists should make up their… mind about the concept of “mind”.
J.M. DELGADO, from his neurobiologist's viewpoint, writes: “The mind is an ill defined entity which usually is described as an active process. Most definitions indicate what the mind does, but not what it is or when and how it is formed. Basic mental functions are related to the reception, interpretation, storage and retrieval of both inner and outer stimuli. Some of these functions involve the processes of feeling, thinking, remembering, willing and other phenomena.
- “The brain, in contrast with the difficulties in defining the mind, is a well identified physical entity which can be seen, touched and weighted”.
Of course, this is impossible to do with a working brain within a skull in a living organism.
Besides, it is probably not the point. What is important in the brain, as the “producer” of “mind” is its organization and the dynamics of the cerebral processes.
The most that can be said about the so-called mind is to describe it as an abstract designation for a set of coordinated brain activities that can be investigated as physical phenomena. S. GROSSBERG, for instance, suggests that: “Neural networks that match sensory inputs with learned expectations help explain how humans see, hear, learn and recognize information” (1995, p.438-49). The mind is thus no concrete “entity” to be sought for.
The subject has also been deeply discussed by M. BUNGE (1979, p.124-185).