Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Sign of Four', 'Cartesian Meditations' and 'The Idea of the Brain'

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6 ideas

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / c. Monads

21226	Husserl sees the ego as a monad, unifying presence, sense and intentional acts [Husserl, by Velarde-Mayol]
	Full Idea: Husserl's notion of monad expresses a complete inegration of every intentional presence into its sense, and every sense into the intentional acts, ....and finally every intentional act is integrated into the ego.
	From: report of Edmund Husserl (Cartesian Meditations [1931]) by Victor Velarde-Mayol - On Husserl 4.6.2
	A reaction: No, I don't understand that either, but it makes good sense to employ the concept of a 'monad' into the concept of the ego, if you think it embodies perfect unity. That was a main motivation for Leibniz to employ the word.

14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction

22200	If you eliminate the impossible, the truth will remain, even if it is weird [Conan Doyle]
	Full Idea: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
	From: Arthur Conan Doyle (The Sign of Four [1890], Ch. 6)
	A reaction: A beautiful statement, by Sherlock Holmes, of Eliminative Induction. It is obviously not true, of course. Many options may still face you after you have eliminated what is actually impossible.

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 4. Other Minds / c. Knowing other minds

21228	Husserl's monads (egos) communicate, through acts of empathy. [Husserl, by Velarde-Mayol]
	Full Idea: For Husserl monads have windows because they communicate with each other. The windows of the monads are the acts of empathy.
	From: report of Edmund Husserl (Cartesian Meditations [1931]) by Victor Velarde-Mayol - On Husserl 4.7.5
	A reaction: Leibniz said his monads (which include minds) have 'no windows'. The mere existence of empathy (or mirror neurons, as we would say) is hardly sufficient to defeat solipsism.

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 8. Brain

23216	The brain is not passive, and merely processing inputs; it is active, and intervenes in the world [Cobb]
	Full Idea: A number of scientists are now realising that, by viewing the brain as a computer that passively responds ot inputs and processes data, we forget that it is an active organ, part of the body intervening in the world.
	From: Matthew Cobb (The Idea of the Brain [2020], Intro)
	A reaction: I like any idea which reminds us that nature is intrinsically active, and not merely passive. Laws are in nature, not imposed on it. My preferred ontology, based on powers as fundamental, applies to the brain, as well as to physics. No free will needed.

23226	There is a single mouse neuron which has 862 inputs and 626 outputs [Cobb]
	Full Idea: Researchers have recently described a single inhibitory neuron in a region called the visual thalamus of the mouse - it has 862 input synapses and 626 output synapses.
	From: Matthew Cobb (The Idea of the Brain [2020], 11)
	A reaction: This is the kind of fact which philosophers of mind must be aware of when offering accounts of thought which are in danger of being simplistic.

16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 4. Presupposition of Self

21225	The psychological ego is worldly, and the pure ego follows transcendental reduction [Husserl, by Velarde-Mayol]
	Full Idea: Husserl distinguishes two sorts of egos or subjects of experience, the psychological ego and the pure ego. The psychological ego is a reality of the world, and the pure ego is a result of transcendental reduction.
	From: report of Edmund Husserl (Cartesian Meditations [1931]) by Victor Velarde-Mayol - On Husserl 4.6.1
	A reaction: The sounds like embracing both the Cartesian and the Kantian egos. This is obviously the source of Sartre's interesting early book on the self. 'Transcendental reduction' is his bracketing or epoché.