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Single Idea 2426
[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind
]
Full Idea
The 'grain problem' for materialism was raised by Sellars: how could an experience be identical with a vast collection of physiological events, given the homogeneity of the former, and the fine-grainedness of the latter?
Clarification
'Homogeneity' is a smooth seamless quality
Gist of Idea
Why are minds homogeneous and brains fine-grained?
Source
David J.Chalmers (The Conscious Mind [1996], 3.8.5)
Book Ref
Chalmers,David J.: 'The Conscious Mind' [OUP 1997], p.306
A Reaction
An interesting question, but it doesn't sound like a huge problem, given the number of connections in the brain. If the brain were expanded (as Leibniz suggested), the 'grains' might start to appear. We can't propose a 'deceived homunculus' to solve it.
The
25 ideas
with the same theme
[unified character of the thinking mind]:
2127
|
The mind has parts, because we have inner conflicts
[Plato]
|
1737
|
The soul seems to have an infinity of parts
[Aristotle on Plato]
|
24046
|
Understanding is impossible, if it involves the understanding having parts
[Aristotle]
|
1717
|
If the soul is composed of many physical parts, it can't be a true unity
[Aristotle]
|
24053
|
If a soul have parts, what unites them?
[Aristotle]
|
1721
|
What unifies the soul would have to be a super-soul, which seems absurd
[Aristotle]
|
5145
|
The rational and irrational parts of the soul are either truly separate, or merely described that way
[Aristotle]
|
21387
|
The separate elements and capacities of a mind cannot be distinguished
[Lucretius]
|
5884
|
How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations?
[Cicero]
|
5887
|
The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish
[Cicero]
|
5506
|
If soul was like body, its parts would be separate, without communication
[Plotinus]
|
2302
|
Faculties of the mind aren't parts, as one mind uses them
[Descartes]
|
21805
|
Spinoza held that the mind is just a bundle of ideas
[Spinoza, by Schmid]
|
5045
|
No machine or mere organised matter could have a unified self
[Leibniz]
|
1356
|
A person is a unity, and doesn't come in degrees
[Reid]
|
24090
|
Our inclinations would not conflict if we were a unity; we imagine unity for our multiplicity
[Nietzsche]
|
7152
|
With protoplasm ½+½=2, so the soul is not an indivisible monad
[Nietzsche]
|
7130
|
Unity is not in the conscious 'I', but in the organism, which uses the self as a tool
[Nietzsche]
|
4536
|
It is a major blunder to think of consciousness as a unity, and hence as an entity, a thing
[Nietzsche]
|
7108
|
The eternal truth of 2+2=4 is what gives unity to the mind which regularly thinks it
[Sartre]
|
5792
|
Explanation of how we unify our mental stimuli into a single experience is the 'binding problem'
[Searle]
|
3480
|
We experience unity at an instant and across time
[Searle]
|
2957
|
Brain bisection suggests unity of mind isn't all-or-nothing
[Nagel, by Lockwood]
|
2426
|
Why are minds homogeneous and brains fine-grained?
[Chalmers]
|
4924
|
A conscious human being rapidly reunifies its mind after any damage to the brain
[Edelman/Tononi]
|