Outline of a new approach to the nature of mind

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Outline of a new approach to the nature of mind

Petros A. M. Gelepithis

Graduate programme in the Brain & Mind Sciences,

Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete

Faculty of Philosophy

University of Oxford

[email protected]

Abstract

I propose a new approach to the constitutive problem of psychology ‘what is
mind?’ The first section introduces modifications of the received scope,
methodology, and evaluation criteria of unified theories of cognition in accordance
with the requirements of evolutionary compatibility and of a mature science. The
second section outlines the proposed theory. Its first part provides empirically
verifiable conditions delineating the class of meaningful neural formations and
modifies accordingly the traditional conceptions of meaning, concept and thinking.
This analysis is part of a theory of communication in terms of inter-level systems of
primitives that proposes the communication-understanding principle as a
psychological invariance. It unifies a substantial amount of research by systematizing
the notions of meaning, thinking, concept, belief, communication, and understanding
and leads to a minimum vocabulary for this core system of mental phenomena. Its
second part argues that written human language is the key characteristic of the
artificially natural human mind. Overall, the theory both supports Darwin’s continuity
hypothesis and proposes that the mental gap is within our own species.

Keywords: Communication-understanding principle; nature of mind; psychology;
thinking; written human language.

© 2009 by Petros A. M. Gelepithis

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