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Full Idea
Organisms come to better understand their worlds by coming to better understand themselves and the ways in which their own structures engage their worlds.
Gist of Idea
Organisms understand their worlds better if they understand themselves
Source
Robert van Gulick (Mirror Mirror - Is That All? [2006], §III)
Book Ref
'Self-Representational Approaches to Consciousness', ed/tr. Kriegel,U /Williford,K [MIT 2006], p.23
A Reaction
Van Gulick is defending a higher-order theory of consciousness, but this strikes me as a good rationale for the target of philosophy, which has increasingly (since Descartes) focused on understanding our own minds.
| 9324 | From the teleopragmatic perspective, life is largely an informational process [Gulick] |
| 9319 | Is consciousness a type of self-awareness, or is being self-aware a way of being conscious? [Gulick] |
| 9320 | Higher-order theories divide over whether the higher level involves thought or perception [Gulick] |
| 9321 | Higher-order models reduce the problem of consciousness to intentionality [Gulick] |
| 9322 | Maybe qualia only exist at the lower level, and a higher-level is needed for what-it-is-like [Gulick] |
| 9325 | In contrast with knowledge, the notion of understanding emphasizes practical engagement [Gulick] |
| 9326 | Knowing-that is a much richer kind of knowing-how [Gulick] |
| 9327 | Organisms understand their worlds better if they understand themselves [Gulick] |