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.

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 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).

Autism and the Philosophy of Mind

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Peter Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Mental Development ◽  
Symbolic Functioning ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Early Human ◽  
Epistemological Basis

In order to understand the pathogenesis of autism, one needs to have an adequate framework within which to think about the nature of typical as well as atypical early human mental development. From a complementary perspective, the study of autism may challenge our ways of thinking about the mind itself. For example, are we justified in introducing divisions among cognition, conation, and affect in characterizing early development? What is the epistemological basis for children's understanding of others' minds? How should we think about the origins of and basis for symbolic functioning? This chapter explores the relevance of philosophy for our accounts of autism, highlighting the importance of ideas from Wittgenstein and Strawson in particular, and illustrates fresh ways in which autism might contribute to debates in philosophy of mind.

The Identification and Decomposition of Hierarchical Tasks

1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Cotton ◽  
John P. Gallagher ◽  
Sandra P. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Alternate Route ◽  
Component Task ◽  
Two Component ◽  
Hierarchical Ordering ◽  
Definition Of

The definition of hierarchical structure is reviewed, together with psychometric and experimental evidence regarding the existence of specific structures. Exceptions to hierarchical ordering are frequent enough to merit consideration of an assumption that skill on an item may simply transfer to the next higher item rather than being fully prerequisite to it. In some cases an alternate route hierarchy may occur, with persons either learning an item and then the next item or learning both at the same time. A mathematical model including hierarchical and nonhierarchical options fir a two-component task is presented; an experimental design appropriate to testing the model and related transfer hypotheses is also presented.

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 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.

scholarly journals SEEKING ANSWERS: LEARNING, KNOWLEDGE AND PHILOSOPHY

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simón Busch Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Traditional Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The present essay intends to explore the relationship between science and philosophy from an epistemological viewpoint, discussing the relevance of scientific realism for developing a fruitful feedback between philosophy and science. First, I argue that changing the traditional definition of knowledge should not imply skepticism. Instead, scientific models of the mind can serve as an epistemological guide for defining the acquisition of knowledge as a dynamic process, where the learner interacts with reality. Second, I argue that these models can portray reality, though not in a direct and complete way. In this sense, science is regarded as providing a diversely-grained group of models that can be compared by philosophy in order to improve philosophical discussions.<br /><br /></p>

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