Mental property
Encyclopedia
A mental property or a mind property is a property
of a/the mind
. Mental properties are studied by many science
s and parascience
s. Some of these sciences are: psychology, cognitive sciences and recently also systemics
.
There are three main scientific approaches to the study/modeling of mind (properties).
The basic concrete objective of all these approaches is to develop a model of mind/intelligence which could be implemented on a computer and could be considered sufficiently "human-like" to be mistaken for another human mind by a naive observer.
If someone pricks you with a pin, you will most likely feel pain. That instance of feeling pain is an instantiation of the property being in (or a) pain.
It is important to distinguish between the predicate 'is a pain' which is a linguistic entity, and the property denoted by the predicate. This becomes important in the philosophy of mind
when the two are confused, especially concerning intertheoretic reductionism
and ontological reductionism
.
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
of a/the mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
. Mental properties are studied by many science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
s and parascience
Parascience
Parascience is associated in a non-mainstream, subsidiary, or accessory capacity to a scientific subject.* Parapsychology* Paralinguistics* ParamedicSee also* Pseudoscience...
s. Some of these sciences are: psychology, cognitive sciences and recently also systemics
Systemics
In the context of systems science and systems philosophy, the term systemics refers to an initiative to study systems from a holistic point of view...
.
There are three main scientific approaches to the study/modeling of mind (properties).
- The primary is the classical one, which considers mind as an intrinsic property of the human brain only.
- The second is focused on engineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
research for the development of an abstract/synthetic mind/brain for robots and computers which satisfies requested functional properties.
- The third is the most recent area of research, dealing with a concept of generalized/universal and synthetic mind as a possible or existing property of the Universe. Such research is the common interdisciplinary domain of interest of the philosophy of mindPhilosophy of mindPhilosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
, artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and different systemic and meta-systemic approaches with a strong contribution from physicists and mathematicians.
The basic concrete objective of all these approaches is to develop a model of mind/intelligence which could be implemented on a computer and could be considered sufficiently "human-like" to be mistaken for another human mind by a naive observer.
Philosophy of mind perspective
A simple concrete example:If someone pricks you with a pin, you will most likely feel pain. That instance of feeling pain is an instantiation of the property being in (or a) pain.
It is important to distinguish between the predicate 'is a pain' which is a linguistic entity, and the property denoted by the predicate. This becomes important in the philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
when the two are confused, especially concerning intertheoretic reductionism
Reductionism
Reductionism can mean either an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can...
and ontological reductionism
Reductionism
Reductionism can mean either an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can...
.