Hi Waldemar,
Great question regarding the book. Since listening to Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy, I have become even more convinced that what we in the academy are missing is an effective way to talk about mind-body/mind-matter issues. This is the SAME basic issue that has prevented the field of psychology from being a coherent discipline. That is, "Mind-Body Problems" = The Problem of Psychology.
Horgan's book is useful for several reasons. First, the book is free and easily available on line. Second, it is written in an easy style that does not require much technical knowledge. Third, it is written in a manner parallel to the Story of Philosophy, in that it profiles both scholars and their ideas, a different one in each chapter--a format I think is helpful and useful. That gives rise to a fourth reason, namely that it is a broad treatment of the issues. Fifth, I found that I could just copy and paste the chapters into a word document and thus engage in running commentary of the chapter in a word document and share that with others. This will allow for a much more fine grained analysis of the text and clear exposition regarding what is going on.
The hope is to show folks that how Horgan talks about mind-body is very confused. And the way he talks is the way we talk in general. So it is a great example of our common social construction of these issues. As such, Horgan's style should be easily relatable, and thus allow folks to empathize and "see what he sees."
Then I can use his style to show that it is his linguistic/conceptual/preconceived notions about the world that drives much of his confusion. That is, he has an implicit metaphysical system that is revealed in how he talks about these issues. To be direct about it, Horgan is a confused dualist (as are so many people). In contrast, the ToK is a coherent "property quadist" view. I will be able to use him as an example of what a confused dualist language game looks like and why, if you operate off of that, you will indeed by confused by the mind-body problems.
However, if you learn to speak ToK/UTUA, the knotty problems that are all tied up in a ball when you are a confused implicit dualist become loosened and clarity is achieved. That is not to say there are no problems left. For example, what I call "the hard-engineering problem" remains. This refers to the connection/relationship between neurophysiological mechanical processes and the emergence of subjective experience that are binded together in our perceptual field of awareness. I do not have an answer to that problem directly (although progress is being made). However, that is only one of the problems that Horgan is all tangled up about. I will show how his naïve dualism is working against him and how we can do better...much better.
Best,
Gregg
-----Original Message-----
From: tree of knowledge system discussion <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Waldemar A Schmidt, PhD, MD
Sent: Sunday, October 7, 2018 9:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A book club invitation to explore mind-body problems
Gregg:
I accept your invitation.
May I ask, what led you to choose this particular work?
Best regards,
Waldemar
Waldemar A Schmidt, PhD, MD
(Perseveret et Percipiunt)
Sent from my iPad
> On Oct 7, 2018, at 9:56 AM, Mark Stahlman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Gregg:
>
> I know John Horgan quite well. He is a pretty standard "hippie" who keeps reaching for hallucinogens &c as-if this was still the 1960s. Creative writing and all that.
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__blogs.scientificamerican.com_cross-2Dcheck_yes-2Dmake-2Dpsychedelics-2Dlegally-2Davailable-2Dbut-2Ddont-2Dforget-2Dthe-2Drisks_&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=s-R6M6hfOGoi0XNEPzL4ZP_EN3HsB7oqp1rr1qezSjI&s=MVELN_kfJpMKxxN0p73C4ZXWbOKPNW4LWlOcX5QenTg&e=
>
> Alas, that was the old paradigm. He has no interest in the *new* one (so I will not be commenting) . . . <g>
>
> Mark
>
> Quoting "Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx" <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> Hi List,
>> I am inviting folks to join me on a book club conversation. The book is free and on-line. It is John Horgan's Mind Body Problems<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__mindbodyproblems.com_&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=s-R6M6hfOGoi0XNEPzL4ZP_EN3HsB7oqp1rr1qezSjI&s=cLOLF8DF4D-hNinQV0_ulxiDQ8I6DoFv4eGKM_Ky09Y&e=>. I have started reading it and will offer a summary of one chapter each week. The first chapter is Introduction: The Weirdness. <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__mindbodyproblems.com_introduction_&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=s-R6M6hfOGoi0XNEPzL4ZP_EN3HsB7oqp1rr1qezSjI&s=UYxDdWcxnEXxGa0rZAEGkNh4tcQoaGJjmpQRgZ3EMls&e=> It is not too long, just over 4,000 words. On Friday, I will offer a summary of it and some commentary.
>>
>> The book gives us an opportunity as a group to grapple with the mind-body problem(s) and to engage in conversations about what it is, and how we might understand it going forward. As you will see, Horgan defines the problem very broadly. As such, it is very relevant for a Theory Of Knowledge. And it is also quite relevant for the ToK/UTUA framework. If the ToK/UTUA Framework is valid, it has much to say about the mind-body problems. The nature of the problems look very different.
>>
>> I hope you will join me and chime in with your own thoughts.
>>
>> Best,
>> Gregg
>>
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