Know Your Mind

Since the original separation of mind and matter by Descartes in 1641, scientists, philosophers, poets and playwrights have put forward hypotheses for the inevitable question posed of these two dualistic entities supposedly living in the same environment: how do they interact? There is an immediate assumption – as there is with any competing parties – that the one must hold sway over the other and that a winner must be pronounced. Neutral monism, perhaps in an attempt to quell the dispute, even purported to have found a third substance which had governance over both the other two and, to a certain extent, controlled both. Add to this the elements of spiritual needs in some religious quarters, the deterioration of social and political ethics in some societies and the determination of scientists to find a starting point in the history of the universe, then the whole becomes a primordial soup of epic proportions with all contestants arguing over the minutiae of the next theory waiting to acquire some tangible proof. As noted by Hawking (2011, p.37), guesswork, intelligent or otherwise, is fundamental to scientific discovery, as in the case of light deflection proposed by Einstein and partially proven by a British expedition in 1919 to West Africa during a solar eclipse: Their measurement had been sheer luck, or a case of knowing the result they wanted to get, not an uncommon occurrence in science. He also cites a philosopher of science, Karl Popper, (ibid. p.12) on the relationship between theories, predictions and observations: … a good theory is characterized by the fact that it makes a number of predictions that could in principle be disproved or falsified by observation. It is my intent to return to observations as the source of putting forward possible theories, rather than putting experimentation first before working back to the theory and drawing up mathematical equations, with no observation involved. I am also in complete agreement with Hawking’s assertions (ibid. p.204) as to the grail we aspire to and his conclusion. Our goal is a complete understanding of the events around us, and of our own existence… … if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we would know the mind of God. (2011, p.210) Mine is the somewhat lesser goal to understand the operations of the mind a little better and use them to improve the quality of all our lives.