"Theory" of Mind: Science or Pseudoscience?

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shsss1994
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20 Nov 2015, 5:56 pm

I just don't get what the "mind" is. On the surface, we all "know" what the mind is, but in science, it's not enough to know what constitutes a given concept "on the surface". In science, all concepts must be *defined*. That is, the description of the concept must include *all* of the properties and mechanisms that, collectively, apply *only* to that concept. The concept of the "mind" is no such concept. If it were, we would already have a "science of mind" right now, which we do not.



naturalplastic
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20 Nov 2015, 6:12 pm

Apparently you mean "theory" of Mind. And not "Theory of Mind".

I hope you are aware that the phrase "theory of mind" means a specific thing related to autism. Namely the notion that autistics are that way because they lack the ability to theorize how others think (thus the problems in social interaction).

Seems like you are talking about something else: the whole concept of the "mind" itself.

you're right that "the mind" is kind of like "time": everyone talks about it, and everyone seems to know what each other means by it. But no one can state what exactly the word means.

There is no bodily organ, nor specific lobe in your brain, that you can point to and say "thats the mind".



shsss1994
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21 Nov 2015, 2:35 pm

The "Theory of mind" is a "theory" in name only. It is not real science. The analogy between time and the mind is a false analogy: time is the continuum through which events take place, and we can measure time with such devices as a stopwatch, a mechanical clock, or an atomic clock. The mind, however, is not observable or measurable; therefore, any and all claims about the mind are inadmissible in science. Psychology does not count, because it is an *applied* science, rather than a *basic* science. I dare everyone to show me how the brain gives rise to the mind with nothing but *physiological* research and data.



naturalplastic
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23 Nov 2015, 9:15 pm

shsss1994 wrote:
The "Theory of mind" is a "theory" in name only. It is not real science. The analogy between time and the mind is a false analogy: time is the continuum through which events take place, and we can measure time with such devices as a stopwatch, a mechanical clock, or an atomic clock. The mind, however, is not observable or measurable; therefore, any and all claims about the mind are inadmissible in science. Psychology does not count, because it is an *applied* science, rather than a *basic* science. I dare everyone to show me how the brain gives rise to the mind with nothing but *physiological* research and data.

Time is the "continuum through which events take place"?

Continuum of what?



shsss1994
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04 Jan 2020, 9:02 pm

Time is a continuum without which no events can ever take place. As an analogy, think of an animated video, through which you are going frame by frame on a program such as AVIDemux. The stepping from one frame to the next is an example of what everyone can agree constitutes time. If time were not real, everything would remain frozen and static forever. Time is a continuum because it is not an either-or / black-and-white concept.