scholarly journals Unifying Opposites through Metaphor: A Cognitive Approach to the Buddhist Metaphors for the Mind in the Awakening of Faith Discourse

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Byongchang Kang
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Ordinary Experience ◽  
Verbal Expression ◽  
The Awakening ◽  
Image Schema ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Scalar Properties ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

While metaphors for the human mind have been intensively discussed across multiple disciplines, there remains a gap on how Buddhism deals with the mind metaphorically. This study explores how Mahāyāna Buddhist discourse resorts to embodied and discursive metaphors in describing and explaining the mind. Buddhist texts analyzed are the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna and its two commentaries by Wŏnhyo. The Awakening of Faith discourse abounds in metaphors for the sentient being’s mind in two aspects: the ordinary phenomenal mind and the transcendental essential mind. The focus of this study is on the relationship between the seemingly opposing two minds, and the ways in which these two opposites are unified metaphorically. To do so, I first examine how the essential mind, which is said to transcend ordinary experience and verbal expression, is made speakable through primary metaphors and NON-CONTAINER (unboundedness) image schema, and how the phenomenal mind is metaphorically understood according to the covarying scalar properties in primary metaphors. With respect to the argument for harmonizing the two minds, in which introducing more apt analogical metaphors is important, two representative discursive metaphors (a mirror metaphor and an ocean metaphor) are compared and discussed.

Moving Further Beyond Secularism: A “Lutheran” Reading of the Cosmology of Thomas Nagel

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-254
Author(s):  
Yiftach Fehige
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Thomas Nagel ◽  
Metaphysical Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Individual Consciousness ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Universe

Summary Thomas Nagel has proposed a highly speculative metaphysical theory to account for the cosmological significance that he claims the human mind to have. Nagel argues that the mind cannot be fully explained by Darwinian evolutionary theory, nor should theological accounts be accepted. What he proposes instead is an explanation in terms of cosmological non-purposive teleological principles. Our universe awakens to itself in each and every individual consciousness. What comes to light in a pronounced manner when consciousness arises, are the mental aspects of the stuff that the universe is made of. These mental aspects are always concurrently present with the physical aspects of the basic elements that constitute the universe. This paper situates Nagel’s cosmology in the context of discussions of the relationship between modern science and Christian theology. It focuses on the history of modern science’s efforts to locate the origins of humanity. The aim of the paper is to present a qualified “Lutheran” reading of Nagel’s theory of the cosmological significance of the human mind. This will unearth strong reasons to think that Nagel’s cosmology is less secular than it claims to be.

The Dialectical Phenomena and Processes of the Mind

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry M. Vyner
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Functional Identity ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Stream Of Consciousness ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Group A ◽  
Considerable Length ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Do So

For the last 14 years, the author has been interviewing Tibetan lamas at considerable length about their experiences of their own mind in meditation for the purposes of: 1) developing a formal descriptive science of the phenomena that appear in the stream of consciousness; and 2) using that descriptive science to describe the defining characteristics of the healthy human mind. This paper will present the central elements of the descriptive science of the stream of consciousness that has been generated by these interviews. It will do so as a means of making the case that the psychological processes that appear in the stream of consciousness have, as a group, a coherent functional identity. This paper will also present representative excerpts from the interviews from which the descriptive science has been derived.

scholarly journals MODERN RATIONALISM AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL IDEAS OF RENE DESCARTES

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-243
Author(s):  
I.P. Brekotkina
Keyword(s):  
Rene Descartes ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Thought Process ◽  
Philosophical Concept ◽  
René Descartes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Human Thinking ◽  
Reliable Knowledge ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

The article discusses the main aspects of the paradigm of scientific thinking, which was created by Rene Descartes in the middle of the 17th century. The author focuses on the problem of metaphysical validity of the human mind, as well as the subject-object relations in the epistemological ideas of the French thinker. These questions are explored through the consideration of the “I”-God-nature triad, which is central to Descartes' philosophical concept. The idea of a created mind was for the philosopher the fundamental basis for obtaining reliable knowledge about the world and discoveries in the scientific field. Descartes defined the mind as an instrument of knowledge and paid great attention to the problem of controlling one's own thinking using the method he invented. The thought process becomes an object of observation and reflection on the part of the “I”. The article examines the relationship between freedom and necessity in Cartesian philosophy. One of the most important tasks set by Descartes is to free thinking from prejudice and build a new philosophy. The basic principle of the Cartesian philosophical system was total doubt. The act of doubt reveals the ability of thinking to manifest freedom. Free will is considered by Descartes as one of the registers of human thinking, through which the control of the thought process is carried out.

scholarly journals Keeping religion in mind

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-150
Author(s):  
E. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Religious System ◽  
Random Array ◽  
Religious Systems ◽  
The Mind

The study of religion should continue to focus on the mind rather than being relegated to the emotions. As you study the mind, do not forget to study religion. Do not be so overwhelmed by socio-cultural factors that you forget about the key role that the mind plays in the formation of religious ideas and the practices they inform. And when you study the formation of religious ideas do not become too easily sidetracked into considering only emotive processes.  A cognitive approach to the study of religious ritual demonstrates that when you examine religious ideas and the practices they inform you are looking at a religious system in operation. The relationships among such ideas are systematic and orderly. If they were not we would be looking at a random array of ideas and practices. In such a situation anything would go. But in religious systems anything does not go. The judgments that religious ritual participants make about their own systems are informed by underlying principles that are part of their implicit knowledge. Perhaps, most significantly, such implicit knowledge does not seem to be acquired by instruction. So rather than looking primarily at social and cultural facts in order to explain their acquisition we also need to start looking more closely at how the human mind works; we need to be developing a new psychology of religion as a subdiscipline of cognitive science.

scholarly journals PERSPECTIVELE SPIRITUALE ALE MINŢII UMANE LA SFÂNTUL MAXIM MĂRTURISITORUL

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Gina Luminița SCARLAT ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Special Domain ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Spiritual Perspectives ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

The human mind is the subject of research for various fields of activity. Socio-human research fields investigate the brain's relationship with the mind, its circumstantial and relational functionality, the biological support and the complex processes of the soul, the principles of its formation and the relationship with consciousness, as well as its mode of action at the level of the human communities. Besides these perspectives, there is a special domain of mind research: that of Christian patristic spirituality. But what are the research objectives of Christian spirituality with regard to the human mind? And why did the uman mind come to the attention of the holy Fathers of the Church? From the texts of Christian anthropology and spirituality it follows that the mind has become a subject of research because the most intimate union between man and God is at its level. This study is centered on the analysis of St. Maximus the Confessor's observations about the human mind and its spiritual possibilities. The research methods relate both to the relationship between St. Maximus' observations and the previous Greek and Patristic philosophical tradition, and to their comparison with the results of modern thoughts about the mind. It can be said that the spiritual perspectives described by St. Maximus fundamentally complements the current research of about mind, because it discovers her cognitive and sensitive ability to develop in personal relationship with God.

The Dilemma of Psychology: Objective without an Object?

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (15) ◽  
pp. 99-110
Author(s):  
Georg Lind
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Moral Competence ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Measurement Object ◽  
The One ◽  
Competence Test ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

Anyone who seeks the service of psychology (which translates to “science of the mind”) faces a persisting dilemma. One has to choose between two psychologies: “Subjective”, also called “qualitative”, psychologists believe that the focus on studying the internal structure of the human mind will provide important insights needed in therapy and education. Yet the human mind, they argue, can be studied only with subjective methods like clinical interview, not with standardized tests. In contrast, “objective” or “quantitative”, psychologists argue that if psychology wants to be recognized as a science, it must enlist only objective methods of measurement. Yet this excludes, they argue, the study of internal psychological factors of the human mind. While the subjective approach is based on psychological assumptions regarding the nature of the target measurement object, the objective approach is based on purely statis-tical theories. Must we really have to abandon psychological objects like intellectual and moral capaci-ties if we want our measurement to be objective? In this paper I show that both approaches are based on questionable theories about the relationship between visible behavior on the one side and psychological objects on the other. I also show that we can measure psychological traits objectively and validly if we use an experimental approach. Experimental Question-naires can be used in all fields of psychology in which testable theories about the nature of its object have been developed. We have successfully used this new approach, for example, for the construction and validation of the Moral Competence Test (MCT).

scholarly journals Consciousness Examined: An Introduction to the Foundations of Neurobiology for EMDR

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uri Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The human mind is difficult to investigate, but the biological foundations of the mind, especially consciousness, are generally regarded as the most daunting. In this article, excerpted from the book Neurobiological Foundations for EMDR Practice (Bergmann, 2012), we introduce and outline aspects of consciousness, information processing, and their relationship to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). We examine consciousness with respect to three characteristics: unity of perception and function, subjectivity, and prediction. The relationship of these characteristics to EMDR is examined.

scholarly journals Religion som strømme i en flydende bevidsthed

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uffe Schjødt
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Developmental Theory ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Multiple Intelligence Theory ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Abrupt Jump ◽  
Intelligence Theory ◽  
The Mind

Archaeologist Steven Mithen claims to show how and why the human mind developed into a culturally capable entity. By adopting the notion of the ontogenetic recapitulation of phylogeny, Mithen integrates several different perspectives on developmental psychology with the state of the art of archaeological data. According to Mithen the mind has undergone some important changes during the last couple of million years ending with what Mithen calls Cognitive Fluidity. A cognitively fluid mind is the only architecture that allows abstract thinking and use of symbols. This article, however, argues that Mithen’s cognitive approach suffers from important theoretical inconsistencies, since much of the research involved seem to contradict each other. Thus psychologist Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory does not fit well into philosopher Jerry Fodor’s theory of mind, while developmental psychologist Karmiloff-Smith’s developmental theory is interesting to Mithen only if recapitulation is accepted as a framework, and even then problems seem to exist between Mithen’s abrupt jump into a cognitively fluid mind about 40,000 years ago and Karmiloff-Smith’s domain specific developmental stages. In my view, Steven Mithen’s Book, The Prehistory of the Mind does not offer a satisfying account of how the mind finally went fluid and became able to perform complex artifacts and religious behaviour.

“Green Harms” as Art Crime, Art Criticism as Environmental Dissent

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avi Brisman
Keyword(s):  
Art Criticism ◽  
Tiger Shark ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

This article argues that the focus of many criminologists and art crime scholars is too often rather narrow, and promotes a more expansive notion of “art crime” —one that centers not on crime, but on the relationship between art and crime. More specifically, this article argues for an approach to “art crime” that contemplates “socially injurious acts” or omissions involving art that are not defined as “crime” or proscribed by civil or criminal statutes. Employing this “harm-based” approach, this article examines the responses to Damian Hirst’s The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living—a piece consisting of a 14-ft tiger shark (caught by a fisherman commissioned to do so) immersed in formaldehyde in a vitrine of glass and steel—to demonstrate how art criticism can be employed as a tool for dissent, especially in cases involving art that causes ecological or environmental harms.

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