Jack Cummins

It does seem that there is a lot of confusion about who is in charge or control as roles in social life have become more and more fuzzy. Power shifts ...

I went to meditation this evening in Camden Town. Sometimes if I go to a group meditation I feel unable to switch off. However, what happened today wa...

Going back to its origins, philosophy involved the quest for self-knowledge and, as philosophy has become increasingly about analysis of concepts and ...

As I am extremely influenced by Jung, I have thought about his understanding of consciousness a lot in relation to various thread discussions. It appe...

It is indeed interesting that Spinoza's ideas were suppressed, while Descartes ideas were mainstream. I wonder if it has a political aspect with Desca...

Thanks for your thoughts on information and it does lead me to think of systems theory. I can remember how when I was studying biology, it made so muc...

I had a read of your debate with Hanover. It showed how intricate the distinction is between substance dualism and property dualism. I think that it m...

Yes, I may have mixed up various post discussions which I have had with you. However, I do believe that the philosophy of Spinoza has been particularl...

I didn't think that you would reduce consciousness to information, but there are probably some people who do.

Yes, Skinner's perspective is complex, because although he did deny reflective consciousness, he did come up with potential modifications for life, in...

The article which you provided a link to is a good overview. I certainly don't dismiss neuroscience as it does provide such a useful perspective. The ...

I know that you think that Spinoza's understanding of substance dualism is important. However, you seemed to agree with me that his writing is not the...

I haven't read Yglotsky but I did begin reading Skinner's philosophy while I was studying psychology 'A' level. If anything, it seemed that he underpl...

I had never thought of it as information until I read a couple of threads on this site on consciousness and information. To some extent, that perspect...

I come from the perspective of reading Dennett's ideas, which are so different from my own and that is why I think about it a lot. When I had a few ou...

The fact that we all view everything with our own minds is a central aspect of philosophy. Mind is inherent in all thought and I believe that Thomas N...

I guess that I am interested in questioning the various perspectives on the mind and body question, as it is such a perplexing philosophical issue. I ...

I definitely see links between Ryle's understanding of the link between mind and matter and the nature of embodiment. In the last few months I read a ...

I replied to your second post and see that, in the first, you describe how you have read Ryle's work and found it frustrating. I am finding it more he...

Funnily enough, I don't think that I reflected on the term consciousness that much until I began using this forum about 2 years ago. But, I was probab...

At the moment, I am finding the ideas of Ryle very helpful, and I am happy to share with you and anyone else who is interested. I nearly put the ideas...

It may be that many see the entire idea of the 'ghost in the machine' as absurd in the context of neuroscience. However, on the other hand, there is t...

I just hope that he is okay. I know that you say that there are many social clubs, but today I tried to join art groups in the local library where I h...

I do agree with you, but it probably also remains an issue for the site in general, where many write such short posts, with one line remarks and emoti...

I do think that his banning will probably be more of a loss to the site than anything. Of course,I am sure that he had his bad moments, as we all do a...

I find your area of questioning interesting as I first began finding books in the philosophy section when I was about 12 or 13. I can remember getting...

I will miss him too, because he was distinct and unique. I think that he probably just got carried away at times, probably as a result of not having e...

Philosophy and psychology have such an important relationship. In the beginning of the last century they overlapped and it was the movements of behavi...

I would agree that people often make too many assumptions about other's psychological experiences. That is why I specify the importance of listening. ...

Of course, we have subjective experiences. Your experience of listening to The Doors is unique to you and mine to me. However, they are not so subject...

We know that other people have inner experiences because we are able to talk about them in a comparative way. For example, we can talk about our exper...

My perspective is that the various terms of mind, soul, spirit and self overlap and probably capture partial aspects of the inner experiences of human...

I have not read Lacan at present, but your reflection on his thinking is important, especially in the dialogue between psychoanalysis and philosophy.

Yes, the vocabulary of thinking changes so much. I guess the reason why I set up this thread was in order to think about the interplay of such concept...

The ideas of souls and spirits are more complicated than the self, especially as there is often a belief in some kind of disembodied form of conscious...

I had a look at your post on the idea of a 'future self' which is in itself an interesting concept and the nature of temporality of the self is import...

Your reply is interesting, in regard to the divisions in the self, mind and matter. The emergent perspective does break down potential divisions, espe...

The question of a stable sense of 'self' for philosophy or living is an interesting dilemma. It goes back to the idea of the 'examined life' of Socrat...

A stable platform, especially in the solidity of a personal sense of self, may be important for philosophical clarity. A deflated or inflated sense of...

There is a danger of summaries leading to overgeneralisations of ideas. There are intricate aspects of different systems or frameworks which may be gl...

You have indeed captured the way in which the ideas of mind, soul, spirit and self are at the core of so many aspects of philosophy, including the phi...

I do agree with ego, psyche and heart being possible terms which could have been added to the list. The term ego is fairly ambiguous because it has di...

Self has definitely taken over from soul and I can see why. Although I do appreciate the Zen Buddhist view which sees self as not being an entity in i...

It is likely to be far to compare almost ANYTHING, but it is likely that in order to become a clear, independent thinker it is worth working out a fra...

You are right to say that the concepts which I am talking about are non-physical which makes them fall more into the category of the philosophy of rel...

I am definitely into combining and blending different ideas rather than simply differentiating and this is where it gets interesting. That is because ...

Yes, it is interesting to what purpose are such terms used. I started very much in the direction of the idea of the soul, in a religious background of...

Okay, I will look at the link. I did start Spinoza w couple of times and didn't get very far. I also did come across Hegel in relation to communism, a...

I definitely see the point of Wittgenstein's idea of the 'use' of meanings, which was why I didn't attempt to define the various words. It would have ...

We may come from conflicting angles, because while I am not a theist I have an interest in comparative religion and points of view, in trying to under...