14 May 2008, 5:43 am
14 May 2008, 1:05 pm
14 May 2008, 1:40 pm
The cat, to catch, the ball on the table must do trig calculations, and he does them. Not consciously of course, he never studied trig at school. But his mind, in some part (module, genetically provided piece of his brain) is equipped with such calculating faculties. This is what theory of mind is about.
14 May 2008, 1:51 pm
14 May 2008, 1:58 pm
Quoting Rainstorm5:
Quote:
- Why am I ME?
- Why am I looking out at the world through my particular eyes and not someone else's?
- Is everyone else aware of the same?
- What makes me ME?
I never could articulate these questions, but theory of mind comes pretty close. I never once thought I was looking at the world as if it were a snowglobe (or as a main character in some kind of personal movie), but even so, how did I become ME? Why am I n this particular body and not a fish or a tree or something else? Then this all spirals down into the unavoidable question: When I die, do I go on? Do I (my consciousness) then become someone else? Or do I just simply shut off like a candle snuffed in a dark room, staring at the blackness of eternity? I remember I once brought up this same topic in another NT forum and everyone summarily wrote me off as being self-centered. Guess I'd better stop now while I'm ahead. These questions bother me in the middle of the night when I'm laying there, staring at the ceiling. They usually herald an oncoming tsunami of depression.
- Why am I looking out at the world through my particular eyes and not someone else's?
- Is everyone else aware of the same?
- What makes me ME?
I never could articulate these questions, but theory of mind comes pretty close. I never once thought I was looking at the world as if it were a snowglobe (or as a main character in some kind of personal movie), but even so, how did I become ME? Why am I n this particular body and not a fish or a tree or something else? Then this all spirals down into the unavoidable question: When I die, do I go on? Do I (my consciousness) then become someone else? Or do I just simply shut off like a candle snuffed in a dark room, staring at the blackness of eternity? I remember I once brought up this same topic in another NT forum and everyone summarily wrote me off as being self-centered. Guess I'd better stop now while I'm ahead. These questions bother me in the middle of the night when I'm laying there, staring at the ceiling. They usually herald an oncoming tsunami of depression.
These are perfectly legitimate questions and I think most intelligent people would speculate on the answers to them. Certainly philosophers have asked these same questions and built whole philosophies around them. If you didn't ask yourself such questions you would be a rather dull and robotic individual. Inquiring Minds Want to Know.
I, on the other hand, have often speculated on what it would be like if I were the only one who existed and everything else was a creation of my own mind. The operative word being "speculated" and not "believed". As long as such thinking remains speculative , I see no harm in it. Examining the nature of reality, our own and others is a form of higher consciousness and creativity. It would be a pretty dreary world without it.
14 May 2008, 5:30 pm
14 May 2008, 8:58 pm
Brittany2907 wrote:
Nico wrote:
Theory of mind is the ability to see the world through the eyes of someone else and to understand that people have beliefs different from our own.
If people on the autistic spectrum are supposed to lack theory of mind, then I must not have AS because I know that others have different beliefs from my own.
There's a little more to it than that. Here's a good article I found on the subject (ASDs & theory of mind), which explains the problems involved with autistic children developing theory of mind. Eventually they can and do develop a sense of theory of mind as they mature, but even then it's not as advanced as that of the average neurotypical child.
Link: http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/education/TheoryofMind.html
14 May 2008, 9:39 pm
14 May 2008, 9:56 pm
cosmiccat wrote:
These are perfectly legitimate questions and I think most intelligent people would speculate on the answers to them. Certainly philosophers have asked these same questions and built whole philosophies around them. If you didn't ask yourself such questions you would be a rather dull and robotic individual. Inquiring Minds Want to Know.
I don't like to think of myself as dull and robotic, but I suppose it depends on who you ask... I spend a lot of time inside my own mind, though, so that might mean I'm not much fun to be around in real life.
Quote:
I, on the other hand, have often speculated on what it would be like if I were the only one who existed and everything else was a creation of my own mind. The operative word being "speculated" and not "believed". As long as such thinking remains speculative , I see no harm in it. Examining the nature of reality, our own and others is a form of higher consciousness and creativity. It would be a pretty dreary world without it.
I've entertained similar thoughts from time to time as well, but they are usually dismissed quickly. My parents were both in the mental health industry (in one form or another) so I always saw thoughts of this nature as aberrant. Why? Because my mom said so. I don't see anything wrong with thinking such things, as long as it doesn't dissociate someone from reality completely.
