Metaphysics of mind

thumb|17th-century representation of consciousness by Robert Fludd, an English Paracelsian physician

Reason is the capacity to consciously apply logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking truth. It is associated with activities considered characteristic of humans, including philosophy, religion, science, language, and mathematics, and is generally considered a distinguishing ability possessed by humans. The term "reason" is sometimes used to refer to rationality, although the latter is more about its application.

thumb|upright=0.7|alt=graphic of a lightbulb|A picture of an incandescent light bulb, a symbol associated with the formation of an [[idea, an example of creativity]]

Personality describes the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional patterns that make up a person’s unique adjustment to life. Personality is relatively stable, but can change over time due to experiences and developmental processes. Although there is no consensus definition of personality, most theories in personality focus on traits, motivation, skills, and identity.

thumb|Sami Family 1900

faculty of the mind which intentionally selects the strongest desire from among the various desires present

A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures. In popular language, a meme may refer to

thumb|170px|The Blind justice (concept)|concept of blind justice is a moral principle.

Inferences are steps in logical reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word infer means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinction that dates at least to Aristotle (300s BC). Deduction is inference deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true, with the laws of valid inference being studied in logic. Induction is inference from particular evidence to a universal conclusion. A third type of inference is sometimes distinguished, notably by Charles Sanders Peirce, c

advanced emotion, subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of their awareness

claim that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition

thumb|Adriaen van Ostade, "Analysis" (1666)

Solipsism ( ; ) is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind.

Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul. Introspection is closely related to human self-reflection and self-discovery and is contrasted with external observation.

thumb|The Painter and The Buyer|The Painter and the Buyer (1565). In this drawing by [[Pieter Brueghel the Elder, the painter is thought to be a self-portrait.]]

An intention is a mental state in which a person commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the content of the intention while the commitment is the attitude towards this content. Other mental states can have action plans as their content, as when one admires a plan, but differ from intentions since they do not involve a practical commitment to realizing this plan. Successful intentions bring about the intended course of action while unsuccessful intentions fail to do so. Intentions, like many other ment

open question in philosophy of how abstract minds interact with physical bodies

thumb|The formation of complex symmetrical and fractal patterns in [[snowflakes exemplifies emergence in a physical system.]] thumb|A termite "cathedral" mound produced by a termites|termite colony offers a classic example of emergence in nature.

thumb|right|300px|The intellect comprises the rational and the [[logical aspects of the human mind.]]

philosophical idea of a person having a unique existence

upright=0.65|thumb|The "redness" of red is an example of a quale.

The noosphere (alternate spelling noösphere) is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky and philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Vernadsky defined the noosphere as the new state of the biosphere, and described it as the planetary "sphere of reason". The noosphere represents the highest stage of biospheric development, that of humankind's rational activities.

thumb|right|upright=1.2|This diagram shows the medieval understanding of celestial spheres|spheres of the [[cosmos, derived from Aristotle, and as per the standard explanation by Ptolemy. It came to be understood that at least the outermost sphere (marked "Primũ Mobile") has its own intellect, intelligence or nous – a cosmic equivalent to the human mind.]]

philosophical theory

Intentionality is the mental ability to refer to or represent something. Sometimes regarded as the mark of the mental, it is found in mental states like perceptions, beliefs or desires. For example, the perception of a tree has intentionality because it represents a tree to the perceiver. A central issue for theories of intentionality has been the problem of intentional inexistence: to determine the ontological status of the entities which are the objects of intentional states.

philosophical theory that mental phenomena are non-physical and that matter exists independently of mind

ability to attribute mental states

In metaphysics, phenomenalism is the view that physical objects cannot justifiably be said to exist as "things-in-themselves", but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli (e.g. redness, hardness, softness, sweetness, etc.) situated in time and in space. In particular, some forms of phenomenalism reduce all talk about physical objects in the external world to talk about bundles of sense data.

philosophy of mind that mental states are driven by their function

philosophy that only minds and ideas are real

Associationism is the idea that mental processes operate by the association of one mental state with its successor states. It holds that all mental processes are made up of discrete psychological elements and their combinations, which are believed to be made up of sensations or simple feelings. In philosophy, this idea is viewed as the outcome of empiricism and sensationism. The concept encompasses a psychological theory as well as comprehensive philosophical foundation and scientific methodology.

Epiphenomenalism is a philosophical theory on the mind–body problem in philosophy of mind. It holds that subjective mental events are completely dependent for their existence on corresponding physical and biochemical events within the human body, but do not themselves influence physical events. According to epiphenomenalism, the appearance that subjective mental states (such as thoughts and intentions) are causally effective themselves and directly influence physical events is an illusion generated by brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex, with consciousness itself being a by-product of

hypothetical internal cognitive symbol that represents external reality

the claim that people's common-sense understanding of the mind (or folk psychology) is false and that certain classes of mental states that most people believe in do not exist

perception of the passing of time

area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought involves epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, jurisprudence, and philosophy of mind

philosophical thought experiment: “a brilliant scientist has investigated the neurophysiology of vision from a black and white room via a black and white monitor; will she learn anything new if she is given a color monitor?”

thumb|right|The upper levels on this chart can be considered to supervene on the lower levels.

philosophical theory that mental and bodily events occur together, without any causal interaction between them

Neurophilosophy, or the philosophy of neuroscience, is the interdisciplinary study of neuroscience and philosophy that explores the relevance of neuroscientific studies to the arguments traditionally categorized as philosophy of mind. Recent scientific discourse elucidates the distinction between "neurophilosophy" and "philosophy of neuroscience".

philosophical theory that mind and matter are each reducible to some third category which is neither mental nor material, but somehow neutral between them

classifications that denote whether a term describes an object with a physical referent or one with no physical referents

inability to describe conscious experiences in soley physical or structural terms

Numinous () means "arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring"; also "supernatural" or "appealing to the aesthetic sensibility." The term was given its present sense by the German theologian and philosopher Rudolf Otto in his influential 1917 German book The Idea of the Holy. He also used the phrase mysterium tremendum as another description for the phenomenon. Otto's concept of the numinous influenced thinkers including Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade, and C. S. Lewis. It has been applied to theology, psychology, religious studies, literary analysis, and descriptions of psy

the notion that a mind is composed of innate neural structures or mental modules which have distinct, established, and evolutionarily developed functions

Emergentism is the belief in emergence, particularly as it involves consciousness and the philosophy of mind. A property of a system is said to be emergent if it is a new outcome of some other properties of the system and their interaction, while it is itself different from them. Within the philosophy of science, emergentism is analyzed both as it contrasts with and parallels reductionism.

Externalism is a group of positions in the philosophy of mind which argues that the conscious mind is not only the result of what is going on inside the nervous system (or the brain), but also what occurs or exists outside the subject. It is contrasted with internalism which holds that the mind emerges from neural activity alone. Externalism is a belief that the mind is not just the brain or functions of the brain.

thesis that the same mental property, state, or event can be implemented by different physical properties, states or events

Henology () is the philosophical account or discourse on the One that appears most notably in the philosophy of Plotinus.

basic distinction in philosophy

philosophical theory that there is only one kind of substance in reality (matter) but with two types of properties, material and mental

thesis in philosophy of mind

belief that natural wholes are composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationship to each other

philosophical concept

a thought object that does not have an equal in the real world

Enactivism is a position in cognitive science that argues that cognition arises through interaction between an acting organism and its environment. It claims that the environment of an organism is brought about, or enacted, by the active exercise of that organism's sensorimotor processes. "The key point, then, is that the species brings forth and specifies its own domain of problems ...this domain does not exist "out there" in an environment that acts as a landing pad for organisms that somehow drop or parachute into the world. Instead, living beings and their environments stand in relation to

Conceptual issue in the philosophy of mind

philosophy book by David Chalmers

philosophical question

theory in the philosophy of mind