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Mind with regard to Meaning

Peter ModdelSSE 2009 : Viterbo, Italy

• The tale of the black box

• At one time, the mind was spoken of as the ‘black box’ – the behaviorists’ black box - out of reach of observation and for this reason research was directed at behavior, something observable that apparently resulted from whatever was happening inside the black box. In that box was the experience of knowing, and all that goes with it: wanting, choosing, liking, fearing, hoping, a sense of directing our thoughts and behaviors, etc. It was the subjective experience of living.

• The black box has gone out of fashion, partly as a result of the study

of neurology and other disciplines that penetrate the border where mind and subjectivity begin. They observe on ever more minute scales the processes that seem to be the cause/effect trails of what is going on in the black box of mind. By following these trails, mental processes have been described thus bringing light into the black box and releasing the unknowns.

Or so it seemed! What actually happened is that the unknown subjective dimension of mind - all that was hidden in the black box - was broken down into minute steps and, like much of our countryside today, was criss-crossed with innumerable routes and trails until no box remained. But the question, what is the personal experience of knowing? was never answered. It might seem that the box was opened but its blackness remains as present as ever, hidden away in the tiny gaps between neurological events, or perhaps in some very different realm. A common danger of much scientific research is seeing reduction of scale as progress – as if smaller units means closer to an answer.

What takes place - when we notice something? - when ‘knowing’ happens?

- when we experience the activity of mind?

In an intuitive moment, qualities of what is to be revealed are interrelated and become a whole – an object revealed in a moment of perception.

When there is perception there is form.

Another example is sight, which requires a field of vision. In order to produce this field, it is necessary to create a relationship between the luminosities of all in the field of view. It is when such a relationship is deciphered – a scale of luminescence by which one spot in the field of view stands in a rapport with other spots - vision happens. The light goes on, so to speak, and there is sight and we see!

For perception to arise and the experience of knowing, there needs to be this subjective act of correlation.

Even more than this, since an act of correlation implies the introduction of a scale of values where a certain value serves as a basis of correlation.

The activity of mind is the production of meaning

To summarize: An act performed by a subject creates meaning and through this act perception arises.


Meaning is found by creating/finding a code, or scale, which allows what is observed to become integrated.


Meaning is found by creating/finding a code, or scale, which allows what is observed to become integrated.

This integration gives rise to a personal moment of consciousness that reveals an object of perception.

Conclusion:

By mind we imply the potential to grasp meaning.

This implies a subjective experience – the subjective experience of knowing something.

There is:

An object

There is:

An objectA subject

There is:

An objectA subject

A moment of consciousness

There is:

An objectA subject

A moment of consciousnessThe experience of presence

There is: An object

A subjectA moment of consciousness

The experience of presencePerception

There is: An object



Intelligibility

There is: An object



IntelligibilityMeaning

Consciousness is many perceived as a unity, as a single whole.

It is the act of forming such a whole that brings the light of consciousness

Mind with regard to Meaning

Peter ModdelSSE 2009 : Viterbo, Italy