Outline of a new approach to the nature of mind

14

Fourth, our analysis provides a naturalistic account of the distinction between
token and type meanings that is essentially identical with that of Hebb (1980b for a
brief argument). It is therefore unlikely to be convincing to those considering the
type-token question a philosophical minefield (Aylwin 1985, p. 44) and even an
important topic for serious scholarship (Wetzel 2008). We are though obliged to say
that within our theory tokens of a type are identified with ^jNm, and the type itself with
^εNm . It should be noticed that in the case of Homo sapiens prevailed Np of higher
order Nms (definitions 8-10) may well capture multiple characteristics of a complex
stimulus like that of a beautiful woman.²¹ Here we would enter the overlapping
phenomena of generalization, categorization and abstraction but consideration of
these issues is beyond the scope of this paper.

Fifth, the proposed so far theory of thinking can be used as a preliminary system
of criteria for deciding whether a particular animal species qualifies the appellation
‘thinking species’ and, more importantly, to what degree. On this preliminary basis, I
would say that parrots as exemplified by Alex (Pepperberg 1999), bonobos as
exemplified by Kanzi (Savage-Rumbaugh et al 1998), cephalopoda as exemplified by
the mimic octopus (Norman et al 2001), and dolphins (e.g., Herman 1984 et al.) seem
to fully pass them to at least some degree. These criteria can be enhanced by the
introduction of animal primitive systems (see 2.1.2.1 justification) and should be seen
to be compatible with test in comparative biology (e.g., Lefebvre et al. 2004).

Finally, I propose the following memory-meaning postulate (MMP): The
memory systems of an individual constitute a proper subsystem of that individual’s
semantic system which in turn constitutes a proper subsystem of that individual’s
neural formations. The first step of my argument starts with the observation that the
semantic memory tradition (Collins & Loftus 1975; Collins & Quilian 1969) and its
later incarnations as the study of categories and concepts (e.g., Medin and Rips 2005)
along with suggestions of meaning theories criteria involving memory (Edelman &
Mountcastle 1978), indicate a respectable link between memory and meaning. That
link becomes stronger when one further observes that both memory and meaning
depend on context, time and the individual concerned. Psychiatry provides numerous
cases (e.g., Krystal et al. 1995). Nevertheless, understanding the meaning of an Sc
does not imply memorisation of Sc (suggestion that the memory system is a subsystem
of the meaning system). In addition, there are instances of meaningless utterances or
inscriptions producible by an individual (suggestion that the meaning system is a
subsystem of the nervous system). Finally, memory traces (materialised at sub-
cellular level: Kandel 2006; Koch 1999) can be identified with meaningful neural
formations.

Taking seriously the MMP implies that the key issues of memory research
become key problems for any theory of meaning (cf. and contrast with Sutton
2004).²² In return, most, but not necessarily all, of the questions on meaning become
obsolete or can be translated in the more rigorous framework of memory research to
provide a much-needed breath of fresh air. In the millennium issue of the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Kandel and Pittenger (1999, p.
2027) reviewed a century of accomplishments in the study of memory along “the two
major questions that have dominated thinking in this area: the systems question of
memory, which concerns where in the brain storage occurs; and the molecular
question of memory, which concerns the mechanisms whereby memories are stored
and maintained.” Although work at the molecular level has monopolized the research
on memory mechanisms, the possibility of non-synaptic plasticity is explicitly stated
as one possible direction of future memory research. A second important remark is

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