Can the Berkeleyan Idealist Resist Spinozist Panpsychism?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Graham Clay ◽  
Michael Rauschenbach
Keyword(s):  
More Care ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Rival View ◽  
Rule Out

Abstract We argue that prevailing definitions of Berkeley’s idealism fail to rule out a nearby Spinozist rival view that we call ‘mind-body identity panpsychism.’ Since Berkeley certainly does not agree with Spinoza on this issue, we call for more care in defining Berkeley’s view. After we propose our own definition of Berkeley’s idealism, we survey two Berkeleyan strategies to block the mind-body identity panpsychist and establish his idealism. We argue that Berkeley should follow Leibniz and further develop his account of the mind’s unity. Unity—not activity—is the best way for Berkeley to establish his view at the expense of his panpsychist competitors.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Cheyne
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
External Powers ◽  
The Mind

This introductory chapter commences with a definition of contemplation as the sustained attention to the ideas of reason, which are not merely concepts in the mind, but real, external powers that constitute and order being and value, and therefore excite reverence or admiration. A contemplative, Coleridgean position is outlined as a defence in the crisis of the humanities, arguing that if Coleridge is right in asserting that ideas ‘in fact constitute … humanity’, then they must be the proper or ultimate studies of the disciplines that comprise the humanities. This focus on contemplation as the access to essential ideas explains why Coleridge progressed from, without ever abandoning, imagination to reason as his thought evolved during his lifetime. A section on ‘Contemplation: How to Get There from Here’, is followed by a descriptive bibliography of Coleridge as discussed by philosophers, intellectual historians, theologians, and philosophically minded literary scholars.

Contemporary psychosurgery and a look to the future

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 944-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Feldman ◽  
Ronald L. Alterman ◽  
James T. Goodrich
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Psychiatric Disease ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Current State ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
Patient Selection Criteria ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Fine Print

Object. Despite a long and controversial history, psychosurgery has persisted as a modern treatment option for some severe, medically intractable psychiatric disorders. The goal of this study was to review the current state of psychosurgery. Methods. In this review, the definition of psychosurgery, patient selection criteria, and anatomical and physiological rationales for cingulotomy, subcaudate tractotomy, anterior capsulotomy, and limbic leukotomy are discussed. The historical developments, modern procedures, and results of these four contemporary psychosurgical procedures are also reviewed. Examples of recent advances in neuroscience indicating a future role for neurosurgical intervention for psychiatric disease are also mentioned. Conclusions. A thorough understanding of contemporary psychosurgery will help neurosurgeons and other physicians face the ethical, social, and technical challenges that are sure to lie ahead as modern science continues to unlock the secrets of the mind and brain.

scholarly journals ‘A transverse scar on the neck’ – psychosomatic approach in the differential diagnosis and surgical treatment of hyperthyroidism in post-war Finland

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-156
Author(s):  
Eve-Riina Hyrkäs
Keyword(s):  
Surgical Treatment ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Differential Diagnostics ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Surgical Interventions ◽  
Somatic Illness ◽  
Post War ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

AbstractIn the Finnish medical discussion during the middle decades of the twentieth century, the challenging differential diagnostics between hyperthyroidism and various neuroses was perceived to yield a risk of unnecessary surgical interventions of psychiatric patients. In 1963, the Finnish surgeon Erkki Saarenmaa claimed that ‘the most significant mark of a neurotic was a transverse scar on the neck’, a result of an unnecessary thyroid surgery. The utterance was connected to the complex nature of thyroid diseases, which seemed to be to ‘a great extent psychosomatic’. Setting forth from this statement, the article aims to decipher the connection between hyperthyroidism, unnecessary surgical treatment and the psychosomatic approach in Finnish medicine. Utilising a wide variety of published medical research and discussion in specialist journals, the article examines the theoretical debate around troublesome diagnostics of functional complaints. It focuses on the introduction of new medical ideas, namely the concepts of ‘psychosomatics’ and ‘stress’. In the process, the article aims to unveil a definition of psychosomatic illness that places it on a continuum between psychological and somatic illness. That psychosomatic approach creates a space with interpretative potential can be applied to the historiography of psychosomatic phenomena more generally. Further inquiry into the intersections of surgery and psychosomatics would enrich both historiographies. It is also argued that the historical study of psychosomatic syndromes may become skewed, if the term ‘psychosomatic’ is from the outset taken to signify something that is all in the mind.

scholarly journals Rewiry metafory. Między ozdobą dyskursu a zwierciadłem duszy

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 46-69
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Popek
Keyword(s):  
Donald Davidson ◽  
The Other ◽  
Gottlob Frege ◽  
Ernst Cassirer ◽  
Rhetorical Tradition ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
George Lakoff ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon ◽  
Rule Out

The purpose of the text is to make some reconnaissance in the area of title "districts of metaphor" (or hunting grounds of metaphor) as well as reference to the unsolvable problems which are implied by a metaphorical mystery of metaphysical expressions. Thy are the order of the day in the main currents of philosophy. Starting from the rhetorical tradition of metaphor (the Aristotelian attempts of definition of metaphor as such) and of terms additional related with it (Max Black), I gradually illustrate what involves its post-rhetorical tradition. I show that philosophical symbolism derives from Aristotle’s hermeneutics, which becomes a gateway for understanding the mystery of metaphor. Like browsing in themselves mirrors, it grows also from simple phrases in complex sentences. In semantic sense, while the symbol has many meanings, the metaphor has a double meaning. It is not however limited by this matter, because in some sense, it has broader content than a symbol, as it introduces into language meanings that in the symbol are only internal (Paul Ricoeur). We also encounter reflective metaphors in our everyday speech and in the attempts of associative penetration into other people's expression. Conceptual decoding of metaphors is common for users of language (George Lakoff, Mark Johnson). On the other hand, there are specific districts of metaphorical expressions, which are reserved for poetic metaphors (Donald Davidson). Noteworthy are also the very unobvious contexts of metaphor in which the authors do not talk about this linguistic phenomenon directly (eg. Gottlob Frege, Ernst Cassirer). Declarative answer to the question whether the metaphor is a simply ornament of discourse or rather a mirror of the soul, is not possible too. Perhaps the metaphor as such includes the both variants. One must consider that being an ornament of speech or writing does not rule out it is also something more than just decoration. It wonders, bothers, disquiet, returning us into our souls. It is also like the unifying soul of all people – in cognitive sense.

scholarly journals The Stoic Appeal to Expertise: Platonic Echoes in the Reply to Indistinguishability

Apeiron ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Shogry
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
General Account ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

Abstract One Stoic response to the skeptical indistinguishability argument is that it fails to account for expertise: the Stoics allow that while two similar objects create indistinguishable appearances in the amateur, this is not true of the expert, whose appearances succeed in discriminating the pair. This paper re-examines the motivations for this Stoic response, and argues that it reveals the Stoic claim that, in generating a kataleptic appearance, the perceiver’s mind is active, insofar as it applies concepts matching the perceptual stimulus. I argue that this claim is reflected in the Stoic definition of the kataleptic appearance, and that it respects their more general account of mental representation. I further suggest that, in attributing some activity to the mind in creating each kataleptic appearance, and in claiming that the expert’s mind allows her to form more kataleptic appearances than the amateur, the Stoics draw inspiration from the wax tablet model in Plato’s Theaetetus (190e–196d), where Socrates distinguishes the wise from the ignorant on the basis of how well they match sensory input with its appropriate mental ‘seal’ (σφραγίς).

Let's Forget Mental Transfer

1952 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-167
Author(s):  
David Skolnik
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Mental Development ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

The doctrine of mental discipline dates back to the time when the mind was regarded as a muscle that could be exercised. More recently the doctrine was challenged by stubborn facts and modified. Thorndike advanced the theory that transfer took place only between situations with identical elements. This sharply limited the principle of mental transfer. After its curtailment by “identical elements,” mental transfer was further demolished by the experimental evidence of Gestalt psychologists which showed that experience is always complex, never an aggregation of elements. This has led to the view that mental development consists of the power to think abstractly and to form general ideas. This view would in fact make mental transfer inherent in the definition of mental development.

scholarly journals PEDAGOGICAL CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING IN MODERN SCHOOLCHILDREN IN THE PROCESS OF STUDYING MATHEMATICS

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Светлана Юрьевна Галиева ◽  
Айгуль Бактияровна Каметова
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Pedagogical Techniques ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

Рассматривается вопрос педагогических условий развития критического мышления у современных школьников в процессе изучения математики. Представлены результаты изучения подходов к определению сущности понятия «педагогические условия», что позволило определить педагогические условия как совокупность объективных возможностей, содержания, форм, методов, педагогических приемов, характера взаимодействия участников педагогического процесса, направленных на решение педагогических задач. Сформулированы современные тенденции нововведений в образовательном процессе. Описана стратегия преподавания и приведены различные этапы формирования для развития критического мышления у современных подростков. Дана характеристика теоретических аспектов, связанных с проблемой развития критического мышления у современных подростков. Приведены примеры реализации педагогических условий для развития критического мышления у подростков. Описаны стратегии формирования опыта критического мышления школьников, в числе которых формирование понятий, интерпретация данных и применение правил и принципов. The question of pedagogical conditions for the development of critical thinking in modern schoolchildren in the process of studying mathematics is considered. The results of the study of approaches to the definition of the essence of the concept of «pedagogical conditions» are presented, which allowed us to define pedagogical conditions as a set of objective possibilities, content, forms, methods, pedagogical techniques, the nature of interaction between participants in the pedagogical process, aimed at solving pedagogical problems. The modern trends of innovations in the educational process are formulated. The strategy of teaching is described and the various stages of formation for the development of critical thinking in modern adolescents are given. The article describes the theoretical aspects related to the problem of the development of critical thinking in modern adolescents. Criticality of the mind is a property when a person can correctly evaluate thoughts, his own and others’, be critical of information, when you can analyze all the assumptions and conclusions made and not take them for granted. Examples of the implementation of pedagogical conditions for the development of critical thinking in adolescents are given. Strategies for the formation of the experience of critical thinking of schoolchildren, including the formation of concepts, the interpretation of data, and the application of rules and principles, are described.

scholarly journals Spot protein–creatinine ratio and spot albumin–creatinine ratio in the assessment of pre-eclampsia: a diagnostic accuracy study with decision-analytic model-based economic evaluation and acceptability analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (61) ◽  
pp. 1-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Waugh ◽  
Richard Hooper ◽  
Edmund Lamb ◽  
Stephen Robson ◽  
Andrew Shennan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Accuracy ◽  
Urine Sample ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Creatinine Ratio ◽  
Central Laboratory ◽  
Albumin Creatinine Ratio ◽  
Nice Guidelines ◽  
Spot Urine ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Rule Out

Background The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines highlighted the need for ‘large, high-quality prospective studies comparing the various methods of measuring proteinuria in women with new-onset hypertensive disorders during pregnancy’. Objectives The primary objective was to evaluate quantitative assessments of spot protein–creatinine ratio (SPCR) and spot albumin–creatinine ratio (SACR) in predicting severe pre-eclampsia (PE) compared with 24-hour urine protein measurement. The secondary objectives were to investigate interlaboratory assay variation, to evaluate SPCR and SACR thresholds in predicting adverse maternal and fetal outcomes and to assess the cost-effectiveness of these models. Design This was a prospective diagnostic accuracy cohort study, with decision-analytic modelling and a cost-effectiveness analysis. Setting The setting was 36 obstetric units in England, UK. Participants Pregnant women (aged ≥ 16 years), who were at > 20 weeks’ gestation with confirmed gestational hypertension and trace or more proteinuria on an automated dipstick urinalysis. Interventions Women provided a spot urine sample for protein analysis (the recruitment sample) and were asked to collect a 24-hour urine sample, which was stored for secondary analysis. A further spot sample of urine was taken immediately before delivery. Main outcome measures Outcome data were collected from hospital records. There were four index tests on a spot sample of urine: (1) SPCR test (conducted at the local laboratory); (2) SPCR test [conducted at the central laboratory using the benzethonium chloride (BZC) assay]; (3) SPCR test [conducted at the central laboratory using the pyrogallol red (PGR) assay]; and (4) SACR test (conducted at the central laboratory using an automated chemistry analyser). The comparator tests on 24-hour urine collection were a central test using the BZC assay and a central test using the PGR assay. The primary reference standard was the NICE definition of severe PE. Secondary reference standards were a clinician diagnosis of severe PE, which is defined as treatment with magnesium sulphate or with severe PE protocol; adverse perinatal outcome; one or more of perinatal or infant mortality, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, necrotising enterocolitis or grade III/IV intraventricular haemorrhage; and economic cost and outcomes. Health service data on service use and costs followed published economic models. Results In total, 959 women were available for primary analysis and 417 of them had severe PE. The diagnostic accuracy of the four assays on spot urine samples against the reference standards was similar. The three SPCR tests had sensitivities in excess of 90% at prespecified thresholds, with poor specificities and negative likelihood ratios of ≥ 0.1. The SACR test had a significantly higher sensitivity of 99% (confidence interval 98% to 100%) and lower specificity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were similar (area under ROC curve between 0.87 and 0.89); the area under the central laboratory’s SACR curve was significantly higher (p = 0.004). The central laboratory’s SACR test was the most cost-effective option, generating an additional 0.03 quality-adjusted life-years at an additional cost of £45.07 compared with the local laboratory’s SPCR test. The probabilistic analysis showed it to have a 100% probability of being cost-effective at the standard willingness-to-pay threshold recommended by NICE. Limitations Implementation of NICE guidelines has led to an increased intervention rate in the study population that affected recruitment rates and led to revised sample size calculations. Conclusions Evidence from this clinical study does not support the recommendation of 24-hour urine sample collection in hypertensive pregnant women. The SACR test had better diagnostic performance when predicting severe pre-eclampsia. All four tests could potentially be used as rule-out tests for the NICE definition of severe PE. Future work Testing SACR at a threshold of 8 mg/mmol should be studied as a ‘rule-out’ test of proteinuria. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN82607486. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 21, No. 61. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

scholarly journals Quieting the mind: aspects of neuroscience in reconciliation

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 788-802
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Limbic System ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

The reconciliation of conflicting parties by the mediator has to deal with high levels of emotional arousal. She or he has to lower these levels for reconciliation to succeed. In this paper two approaches to accomplish this and to quiet the mind are presented, a Buddhist one (anapanasati) and a Western one (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, commonly known as MBSR). In order for the mediator to comprehend emotional arousal and the practices of quieting the mind, some underlying aspects of neuroscience are discussed, specifically, the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. In contrast to mindfulness-based stress reduction, anapanasati, in its definition of mindfulness as well as in its practice, seems compatible with neuroscience. Recommendations are made to the mediator to facilitate the process of reconciliation.

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