3 ms·

Mind And Nature - A Necessary Unity, by Gregory Bateson, and I Am A Strange Loop, by Douglas Hofstadter. They're a great combination, as they're both attempts t

Mind And Nature - A Necessary Unity, by Gregory Bateson, and I Am A Strange Loop, by Douglas Hofstadter. They're a great combination, as they're both attempts to define the concept of "mind" through patterns. Bateson is one of the early thinkers in the field of Cybernetics, which I've been meaning to learn more about. Here's my (unfinished) reviews of the books I've read so far this year: https://github.com/bcbrown/bookreviews/tree/master/2017 https://github.com/bcbrown/bookreviews/tree/master/2017. At the end of the year I'll flesh them out a little more.

mabub24 9y ago
A previous post on the HN front page on human behaviour lead me to recommend this book, and I think you'd be interested in it as well. (I swear I'm not a shill.) It's called "Human Nature: The Categorical Framework" by P.M.S. Hacker. The chapter of direct interest to you is called "The Mind". https://www.amazon.com/Human-Nature-Categorial-Framework-Hacker/dp/1444332481/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1444332481&pd_rd_r=TKX5RASJ63XYHS9H1K7D&pd_rd_w=lz7UT&pd_rd_wg=vLoFR&psc=1&refRID=TKX5RASJ63XYHS9H1K7D https://www.amazon.com/Human-Nature-Categorial-Framework-Hac... Hacker is a philosopher of language and of mind, and he is a very clear writer. He works in a similar method to Wittgenstein and is a scathing critic of the tendency for many (particularly in cognitive neuroscience) to remain in a Cartesian dualist mindset that is, really, 17th-century metaphysics and nonsense. His point on 'the mind' is that it is not an entity. That doesn't mean it is nothing, but that means it is not something. It is a faculty, a conceptual shorthand for our rational powers, or, as Aristotle describes the "psuchē", "the actuality of a body that has life". We alone as persons can do the things that can be attributed to a rational mind. Reading him is like spring cleaning your mind of nonsense. (He also has some hilarious criticisms of Chomsky and his treatment of language in the book, and its sequel.)
- bcbrown 9y ago
  That looks right up my alley, I've added it to my reading list.

mabub24 9y ago

A previous post on the HN front page on human behaviour lead me to recommend this book, and I think you'd be interested in it as well. (I swear I'm not a shill.) It's called "Human Nature: The Categorical Framework" by P.M.S. Hacker. The chapter of direct interest to you is called "The Mind". https://www.amazon.com/Human-Nature-Categorial-Framework-Hacker/dp/1444332481/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1444332481&pd_rd_r=TKX5RASJ63XYHS9H1K7D&pd_rd_w=lz7UT&pd_rd_wg=vLoFR&psc=1&refRID=TKX5RASJ63XYHS9H1K7D https://www.amazon.com/Human-Nature-Categorial-Framework-Hac... Hacker is a philosopher of language and of mind, and he is a very clear writer. He works in a similar method to Wittgenstein and is a scathing critic of the tendency for many (particularly in cognitive neuroscience) to remain in a Cartesian dualist mindset that is, really, 17th-century metaphysics and nonsense. His point on 'the mind' is that it is not an entity. That doesn't mean it is nothing, but that means it is not something. It is a faculty, a conceptual shorthand for our rational powers, or, as Aristotle describes the "psuchē", "the actuality of a body that has life". We alone as persons can do the things that can be attributed to a rational mind. Reading him is like spring cleaning your mind of nonsense. (He also has some hilarious criticisms of Chomsky and his treatment of language in the book, and its sequel.)

bcbrown 9y ago
That looks right up my alley, I've added it to my reading list.