The hidden observer of the limitations of mind?

FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2011

Which MIND helped Kant to observe that it can not grasp what an object 'IN ITSELF' is? 


Philosopher Locke had argued that, as only material things can affect our senses, we know nothing but matter, so we must accept materialistic philosophy. If sensations are the stuff of thought, matter must be the material of mind !


Bishop Berkeley counter argued:  if all our knowledge are mere 'sensations', and ideas derived from these sensations, 'a thing' is merely a bundle of perceptions- perceptions of the mind. Hence the only reality that  we directly know is the MIND, that give these perceptions. Hence, matter does't exist, but only mind and its perceptions !


Philosopher Hume, who came after Berkeley, counter argued both Locke and Berkeley - - -' we know mind only as we know matter, by perception,though the former is internal. There is no 'observable' SOUL behind the process of thought'.


According to historian Will Durant, as Hume had effectively destroyed mind, Berkeley had destroyed matter !


Immanuel Kant's mission was to save mind as well as matter. He consoled the world that what mind grasp is good enough for man to lead his life on earth, and to progress with his science,though what the mind grasps is not the reality of the objects ' IN ITSELF '. Its reality is only the subjective reflection of mind. Mind can not ever know what realty 'in itself' is,except by intuitive powers of the mind ! He never elaborated what these intuitive power is , and whether man could ever possess it. 


But he was rather sure about the limitations of the mind, that it can never lay hand on reality "IN ITSELF'. 


Kant's above brilliant observation begs for an answer for the next natural question  - -which MIND  had helped him to DOUBT the inability of it, to grasp the IN ITSELF reality of objects ? Was there a hidden SUPER MIND above his usual mind, unknown to him,  that tipped him about the limitations of man's usual mind ?  As an EYE can not see itself, the MIND can not observe it self too.


Another brilliant mind of our age, a truly scientific mind, that of Albert Einstein, stated about the quantum theory that " Quantum mechanics is very impressive. But an ‘inner voice’ tells me that it is not the real thing. The theory produces a good deal but hardly brings one closer to the secrets of the Old One. I am at all events convinced that He (God)  does not play dice".  


Which mind he had hinted as his "INNER VOICE' ? 


The usual mind of man, at many junctures of life, hints and even warm him that his conclusions based on the available evidences are WRONG. Or, like in the case of Kant, man  is often unaware of the existence of a higher organ above mind that enable him to 'observe' the former as an 'external object' of study, and even form serious conclusions on its working ! 


Our Science is certain that there is a 'missing link' to unite all his energy sources, and its theories, to explain the phenomenon of life and existence. What aspect of Reason hints the science about this inadequacy of its knowledge ?  


Man's sense of Reason not only detect 'order' and consistency( or the UNITY) of the conclusions he has arrived at on the basis of  available premises in front of him, it also warn him of the inadequacy and incompleteness of his inferences! He is often compelled  to accept the existence of a hidden SUPER MIND above his usual mind. 


The question is merely whether this SUPER MIND is something in the offing for future, in the process of evolution, or was it a case of an organ going REDUNDANT and extinct, like the case the lost TAIL for man,during his bidding good bye to his monkey days? 


This writer stands for the former version - - - man was blessed with this now extinct mind in the beginning - -knowing everything about his origin. During civilizational transition from one generation to other, the links got cut-off at some point in time, and the next generations had to develop the present day mind exclusively with materials and logics that his sense organs had provided him! A mind that got cut of from ORIGINS and MEANINGS. A new SYNTHETIC personality for man, (his EGO ) for living with his SYNTHETIC realities!


Man may have to attempt a re-look at the present theory (dogma ?)  of EVOLUTION  for probing into such possibilities of his SUPER MIND, now extinct by non-use !


Abraham Joseph
www.conscienceofthesociety.com
(A philosophic non-profit that stand for research and study  into human Reason, and the cause of reinvented democracy)
June,2011 

Will man discover a new organ other than mind in future ?

Will a ‘higher’ mind take over the life of man in future ?

Scientists and philosophers of mind mostly believe that mind is the sole organ of knowing, and it knows by observation, followed by the process of  deductive or inductive logic. But this writer had long lingering vibes that man knows first, and then convert it into a UNIT OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE MIND by finding appropriate premises from the 'experience' world. Only this exercise will gain such piece of knowledge acceptability of the mind - it being the sole authority over the sense world- wherein the subject-object mechanism rule the scene.

Knowledge always drops from some other source, most probably by the work of a hidden, not yet identified inner 'seat of 'order', parallel to mind. It works on different principles sans the deductive or inductive logic. This organ supply the knowledge first, and then the mind tries to internalize it for the 'ego', by searching for premises in order to link and associate with some already amassed set of previous information, or arrived at conclusions.

By this process of 'associating', we make the piece of knowledge 'sensible'.

Logic evokes association of a current event or relation with either a well established previous relation between two events or objects,(cause-effect relation) or an event or a relation coming in a known sequence.(not one caused from a given effect, but one event always follows the other in the observed nature) Base for logic at this level is that of 'familiarity'As men always interact at their ego level, they can agree only on truths observable by both the parties.

For agreement on truths of the other genre referred above, which is beyond the subject-object interplay, both parties required to be at the level of the above hinted non-ego mind. In other words, for agreement, both must be using one and the same cognition-organ. An easy exercise to understand this difficulty would be to imagine the interaction between a born blind and a born deaf men. Their realities can never be the same.

In our knowledge, the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce was the only one who had once hinted about this hidden source of the origin of hypothesis. He wrote, 'man's hypothesis always drops from up'.

This mystery seat of order always remain immersed in the knowledge pool. Here one simply knows. It is a non-ego self identity zone for every man, perhaps searched by meditating men and spiritualists. His separation from the original source of existence ceases there, hence he is not his social ego there. The more one remains and act from the ego identity, the more he becomes a world entity, and the more he is able to remain, and act as this hidden identity, the more the sense world distant itself from him.

We dare to propose that this hidden identity might be in fact the work of a developing inner organ for man in the evolutionary process, like ‘hand’ was developed into an effective, distinct organ for man as his ape state came to an end ! Or perhaps it was an already developed organ but man was not aware of its actual role in knowledge acquisition. 

It is also quite possible that this organ might be meant to give man 'noumena' realm of knowledge, while the already known 'senses and mind' mechanism, knowledge of the phenomenal realm! 

Knowing 'noumena' should not mean an in and out 'physical' knowledge of the world that Science seeks.

We must realise that knowing the 'predisposition' of Existence should be considered the noumenon realm. Knowing a person's predisposition is knowing him fully, not knowing his Physical measurements. 

It is also quite possible that like the milk teeth of a child drop and a new set replaces it in the life span of man, our mind organ, fit only for chewing mild truths, will drop gradually, and a new mind fit for higher kind of truth will take over the life of man one day !

There are a few specific write-ups on this 'knowing sourse' at our  blog site,

wherein the concept of Reason as a 'sense- organ' that might be our sourse to have future insights into realm of NOUMENA has been elaborated a bit more in detail

We know that while men lived in the remote past like animals, we used to be a herd with one single mind for the entire herd. But as we progressed, what predominantly marked this Progress was our leaving the herds. Each person acquired independent minds! 

 Perhaps the next higher step in this development might be man's acquiring organs for knowing the NOUMENA realm of Existence! 

Following links will explain more on our Faculty of Reason depicted as an internal sense organ, with all potential for giving us insight into realm of NOUMENA:  

 http://thesparkleofhumanreason.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/part-b.html?m=1

https://isreasonasenseorgan.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/is-reason-internal-sense-organ-super.html?m=1

We invite meaningful responses from all seekers of truth.

Abraham Joseph

He is an ardent seeker and researcher in fields like mind and Reason, metaphysics, spirituality and polity.
Contact him via email: 
ajoseph1@rediffmail.com

Twitter: Voice of philosophy@jopan1

( During 2012 we published a small book with Amazon.com, giving a complete version on 'Reason as the new sense organ'( a bit deviated from the ideas in the above post !) that detects/senses  existential 'order' and consistency.Kindly share the book at link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=book+%27is+reason+a+sense+organ%2F

 and ( its Kindle Version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NOEE9I )