If you like my trashing of
Naive Realism but baulk at the world-view of Neutral Monism within which it
is embedded (particularly with its 'religious' overtones), then move over to
the site of 'fellow Hungarian' Steve Lehar. We have hoed parallel rows
over the dispatch of Naive Realism; likewise, we both reside
principally within the right lobe of the Cortex. Steve feels
more comfortable within a securist weltanschauung, as do most of those
speculating on these momentous issues.
It is no exaggeration to say that
as a Gestalt psychologist et al, he is of the same caliber as Köhler,
Wertheimer, and the other founding fathers of the movement. I'm sure
they would have been delighted to see the way he has brought their work into
the 21st century
Each of us has proposed a formal
substratum for the mind-brain relationship, both of which are field theories
holisitcally inclined. All of those theories current enjoying popular
support are still-born. In constrast one or both of what we are
proposing just might , in the
fullness of time, come to prove out; a big 'if' but where
there's life there's hope
http://cns-alumni.bu.edu/~slehar/
http://cns-alumni.bu.edu/~slehar/Representationalism.html
Mark Crooks
Crooks is the most active and vigorous of us in preserving forward a
'representative' epistemology. See his:
Crooks M. (2002) Intertheoretic Identification and
Mind-Brain Reductionism. Journal of Mind and Behavior 23(3).
He is very thorough and reliable
and by all accounts is making some headway. He may be reached at:
crooksma@msu.edu
Raymond
Smythies
Smythies has been at the game longer than the rest of us, and has seen some
heady times, hobnobbing with the likes of Aldous Huxley and Arthur Köstler.
Less known to most are his contributions to neurophysiology and
pharmacology. The best single reference is:
The Walls of Plato's Cave: The Science and Philosophy of (Brain,
Consciousness and Perception)
by John R. Smythies
The Kheper (and allied) websites
There is a distinctly odd, but interesting group of chaps to be found at :
http://www.kheper.net/
Like a few of us 'down here' they are groping with and trying to make some
sense of the more intangible aspects of reality
that are studiously turned a blind eye to by mainstream intelligentsia.
To those who would dismiss them as undisciplined crackpots, I would only
respond "be content; they have the sparks, all you have is the
tinder". Of particular interest to myself is their attempts to
bring the -as yet- non-existent 'top-down' system of logic/mathrematics into
some kind of focus.
I have particularly in mind his: "The Explicit
Animal" where he tackles the whole matter with eloquence, wit and
style. He has replaced the politically correct, peer-reviewable surface
by a handsome domain that places the Mind stratum truly at the leading edge
of the Mind/Brain ensemble. However, be advised that though vast, the
cavern of subjectivity and its agency is a closed one, hence placing it
beyond reach of any domain of Transcendence from which alone its ultimate
meaning and significance are to be sought and -hopefully- found.
He may be reached at:
rtallis@fs1.ho.man.ac.uk
Intelligent Design
Common gumption compels the acknowledgement that intelligence of some
sought is getting into evolution somewhere and somehow.
It takes no more than an elementary knowledge of probaboility theory,
thermodynamics and biochemistry to demonstrate that The Mainstream demand
belief -that neodarwinism (based entirely upon an ongoing selection
from mutations arising exclusively from quasi-randum natural processes) is
provably false; this is particularly true of life's origins.
However, it is a sad commentary upon the Mainstream mind set, that prior to
such mainstrations thedefault position has not been taken that intelligence
is afoot. The whole matter is obfuscated by a false posing of the
question -that we must choose between the two options of a theistic
orthogenesis and neoDarwinism.
However, though the theists seems hold stage center, the 'Intelligent
design' website doles air alternative opinions aand views. It may be found
at http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/
