Human Psyche: Brain, Mind, and Theories
The Brain and the Human Psyche
The brain is essential to explaining the workings of the human psyche. There are three main types of theories:
- Materialist Monism: Supports only a material reality.
- Dualism: Posits that in addition to the matter of the body, there is a separate, non-physical principle. It cannot explain human action without a bypass mechanism.
- Other Theories: Attempt to go beyond materialism and dualism.
Monistic Theories
- Physicalism: Mental activities are merely physicochemical processes.
Understanding Culture: Essence, Traits, and Impact
The Cultural Dimension of the Human Being
As we have discussed throughout this topic, biological and cultural evolution are closely related. One could not have existed without the other. The cultural dimension influences biological factors, and even the process of natural selection itself. We can cure diseases, prolong life, and adapt to the environment. Thanks to culture, some believe that the evolutionary process has ended, perhaps leading to a Nietzschean “superman” concept.
What is Culture?
For
Read MoreHume, Descartes, and Kant: Key Philosophical Concepts
Hume’s Perceptions: Impressions and Ideas
Hume further divides perceptions into impressions and ideas:
- Simple Perceptions: These do not allow any distinction or separation and cannot be divided into simpler components. Examples include color, flavor, or any singular sensory experience.
- Complex Perceptions: These can be divided into parts. For example, the combined perception of color, flavor, and odor.
There are no innate ideas: All ideas originate from experience, specifically from impressions. Impressions
Read MoreUnderstanding Happiness, Freedom, and Moral Choices
The Desire for Happiness
The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin. God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw him. The Beatitudes discover the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude.
Basic Options: Six Dimensions of Man
The six dimensions of man are:
- Man is not an abstract kind, but a personal being who lives on the other.
- It is a being in time.
- Man is a being in relationship.
- The natural and
Understanding Reality, Knowledge, and Society in Aquinas
Reality
The world exists because God has created it out of nothing; that is, it simply creates from Himself, without pre-existing matter. It might be objected, however, that God can create the world from nothing but is then no longer involved in its creation, allowing the world to develop according to its own internal laws. This forces Aquinas to assert that God creates the world out of nothing and retains its creation through continuous creation. This is the idea of creation from eternity.
Knowledge
All
Read MoreUnderstanding Fallacies: Formal and Informal Reasoning Errors
Understanding Fallacies
A fallacy is an invalid or incorrect reasoning that appears to be correct. The reasoning is misleading or incorrect (false) but pretends to be convincing or persuasive.
Informal Fallacies
Informal fallacies are arguments where the premises are unsuitable to justify the desired conclusion. They attempt to convince without providing good reasons, resorting to irrelevant or irrational factors. Even when the premises contain sound information, they lead to a conclusion different
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