Single Idea 3480

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind]

Full Idea

We experience 'horizontal unity' in the organisation of conscious experiences through short stretches of time, and 'vertical unity' in simultaneous awareness of diverse features of our experience.

Gist of Idea

We experience unity at an instant and across time

Source

John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 6.I.2)

Book Reference

Searle,John R.: 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' [MIT 1999], p.130


A Reaction

See Betjeman's poem "On the Ninth Green at St Enedoc". The brain is an information-unification machine, and 'I' am located at the crossroads where these unifications meet. Analysis of mind is good for us, but so is reunification afterwards.