THE CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY and the PHENOMENON OF MIND It would have been foolish even to think of the solution of such a problem without having prepared myself by a thorough study of the means and by busying myself with less difficult problems Weierstrass THE CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY and the PHENOMENON OF MIND Richard B. Wells Copyright © 2006 by Richard B. Wells All Rights Reserved This book is dedicated to my loving sisters, Sherri and Melody, who are the talented members of our family. Contents Preface xxv 1. First Prolegomenon: The Phenomenon of Mind 1 § 1. Common Views of the Mind 1 § 2. Different Views of the Mind 2 § 3. Empirical Materialism 3 § 4. Scientific Materialism 5 § 4.1 The Mind Dust Theory 7 § 4.2 The Behaviorist Theory 8 § 4.3 The Functionalism Theory 8 § 5. The Mentalist Views 13 § 5.1 Theme I: Mind is Intelligence or Reason and is Part of the Soul 13 § 5.2 Theme II: Mind is a Thinking Substance 16 § 5.3 Francis Bacon and the Dawn of the Age of Reason 17 § 5.4 Rationalism and Mind as Substance 19 Descartes 20 Leibniz 23 The Supersensible 25 Monads 28 Leibniz' "Art of Discovery" 33 § 5.5 Theme III: Mind is a Soul or Spirit, Having the Power of Cognition and Action 35 Representationalism 37 Subjective Idealism 41 Hume's Skepticism 43 § 5.6 Two Other Rationalist Themes 47 Theme IV: Mind as a Particular Mode of God's Thought 47 Theme V: Mind as Self-Consciousness, Knowing Itself as Universal 49 § 6. The Unified Themes 51 v Contents § 6.1 Theme VI: Mind as an Organization of Mental Phenomena 53 Advantages and Shortcomings of Kant's Critical Philosophy 60 § 6.2 Theme VII: Mind as the Totality of Mental Processes and the Principle of Meaningful and Purposive Behavior 62 Mind as the Stream of Thought 63 Genetic Epistemology 69 Summary of Theme VII 72 § 7. The Phenomenon of Mind 73 § 8. The Doctrine of Organized Being 77 2. Second Prolegomenon: Science and Philosophy 79 § 1. The Sciences 79 § 2. Positivism and the Natural Sciences 84 § 3. Laboratory and Nonlaboratory Sciences 87 § 4. Paradigms 89 § 5. Rational Principles 91 § 6. Kant's Philosophy of Science 93 § 7. Science, Metaphysics, and the Critical Philosophy 98 § 7.1 The General View of Metaphysics 98 § 7.2 Kant's Classification of Metaphysics 100 Transcendental Metaphysics 102 Metaphysics Proper 103 § 7.3 The Critical Philosophy and Science 105 § 8. The Development of Theory 109 § 9. Common Characteristics in the Development of Science 127 Theme I: Every Science Has a Limited Topic 127 Theme 2: Every Science is Constructed 128 Theme 3: Every Science is Methodical 129 Theme 4: Every Science Concerns Itself with Specific Objects 131 Theme 5: A Science Begins as an Historical Doctrine 132 Theme 6: A Science Admits of Dubitability 135 § 10. Speculation 138 § 11. The Idea of a System of Metaphysics 145 vi Contents 3. Representation 152 § 1. The Primitive Character of Representation 152 § 1.1 Doctrine of Method for the Exposition of Ideas by Analytic Division 153 § 1.2 Comment on the Method Employed 157 § 2. The Notions of Matter and Form 160 § 2.1 Matter and Form in the Notion of "Existence" 160 § 2.2 Matter and Form in the Notions of "Being" and "Reality" 163 § 3. Second Level Analytic Representation 166 § 3.1 The Representations of Quality and Quantity 168 § 3.2 The Representations of Relation and Modality 170 § 3.3 The 2LAR Structure 172 § 4. The Making of Representations 175 § 4.1 Analytic, Synthetic, and Anasynthetic Representation 176 § 4.2 Kant's Verstandes-Actus 179 Comparison 179 Reflexion 183 Abstraction 184 § 5. Cognitions 186 § 5.1 The Object of Cognition 187 The Copy of Reality Hypothesis 187 The Construction of Reality in the Infant 189 The Objectification of Detail 191 § 5.2 Intuitions and Concepts 194 Intuition 195 The Idea of "Concepts" 196 The Sensible Nature of Appearances 199 Concepts 201 § 6. Kant's Threefold Synthesis of Experience 203 § 6.1 Functional Invariants and the Theory of Assimilation 204 The Functional Invariants 207 Assimilation and Equilibration 210 § 6.2 A Priori Foundations of the Possibility of Experience 211 "Knowledge" and "Experience" 212 The Necessity of A Priori Foundations of Experience 218 The Synthesis of Apprehension in the Intuition 220 The Synthesis of Reproduction in the Imagination 223 The Synthesis of Re-cognition in a Concept 229 § 7. The Ideas of Representation in Epitome 236 4. First Epilegomenon: Representation and Metaphysics Proper 240 vii Contents § 1. Questions Raised by Representation 240 § 2. The Idea of Organization 241 § 2.1 Organization and Rational Cosmology 242 § 2.2 Rational Cosmology and the Idea of Nature 243 § 2.3 Rational Cosmology and the System of Cosmological Ideas 246 The Cosmological Idea of Quantity 247 The Cosmological Idea of Quality 249 The Cosmological Idea of Relation 251 The Cosmological Idea of Modality 252 § 2.4 The Applied Metaphysic of Organization 253 § 3. Power and the Idea of a Faculty 255 § 3.1 Locke's Description of 'Power' and 'Faculty' 256 § 3.2 Faculties and Organization 258 § 4. Adaptation and Rational Psychology 261 § 4.1 The Object of Rational Psychology 265 The "I" and the "Soul" 267 William James and the "Soul" 268 § 4.2 The Ideas of Rational Psychology 270 § 4.3 The Implications of Rational Psychology for Adaptation 274 § 5. Adaptation and Rational Theology 276 § 5.1 The Ideas of Rational Theology 277 The Transcendental Ideal 281 The Idea of Entis Realissimi 282 The Idea of Ens Originarium 284 The Idea of Ens Summum 286 The Idea of Ens Entium 287 § 5.2 The Objective Reality of Adaptation 288 § 6. Transcendental Illusion 290 § 7. The Verstandes-Actus and Metaphysics Proper 297 § 7.1 The Various Definitions of "Logic" 297 § 7.2 The Growth of Logical Thinking 299 Autistic, Intelligent, and Ego-Centric Thought 300 Syncretism and Juxtaposition 302 Schemes, Functions, and the Logic of Meanings 306 A. Schemes 307 B. Constitutive Functions 309 C. The Logic of Meanings 311 § 7.3 Implications for the Verstandes-Actus 315 Comparison 315 Reflexion 325 Abstraction 327 § 8. Transformations and the Synthesis of Experience 328 § 9. Concluding Remarks 331 viii Contents 5. Consciousness 333 § 1. The Phenomenon of Consciousness 333 § 2. Consciousness and Transcendental Apperception 335 § 3. The Principle of the Unity of Consciousness 338 § 3.1 Hysterical Neurosis 338 Conversion Hysteria 339 Dissociated States 344 § 3.2 Pure and Empirical Consciousness 345 § 4. The Unified Themes of Pure Consciousness 347 § 4.1 James' Pragmatic Theme 347 The "Self" of Consciousness 348 Attention 351 Varieties of Attention 354 § 4.2 Freud's Theory of "The Unconscious" 358 § 4.3 Piaget and the "Grasp of Consciousness" 362 Functional Reasons for Cognizance 366 The Mechanisms of Cognizance 370 Observable Features and Inferential Coordinations 372 Evolution of Actions and the Three Levels of Knowledge 374 Processes of Interiorization and Externalization 377 § 4.4 Kant's Remarks on Consciousness 378 Remarks on Consciousness in General 379 Consciousness and "State of Mind" 381 Consciousness and "Feelings" 383 Consciousness and Receptivity 386 Consciousness and Spontaneity 388 The Conscious, the Unconscious, and Degrees of Consciousness 394 § 5. The Faculty of Pure Consciousness 397 § 5.1 Quality in the Faculty of Pure Consciousness 399 § 5.2 Modality in the Faculty of Pure Consciousness 401 § 5.3 Quantity in the Faculty of Pure Consciousness 407 § 5.4 Relation in the Faculty of Pure Consciousness 412 § 6. The 2LAR of Pure Consciousness 430 6. The Data of the Senses 433 § 1. Sense in the Faculty of Organized Being 433 § 1.1 The Rationalist View of Sense 435 § 1.2 The Materialist View of Sense 437 The Physiological Method 438 The Psychophysical Method 441 The Materialist Viewpoint 443 § 1.3 The Idea of Sense 447 ix Contents § 2. Kant's Anthropology of Sense 449 § 3. The Metaphysics Proper of Rational Physics 453 § 3.1 Pseudo-Metaphysics 456 § 3.2 The Pure Science of Nature 459 § 3.3 The Pure Principles of Rational Physics 462 Quantity and the Axioms of Intuition 462 Quality and the Anticipations of Perception 466 Prolegomenon to the Dynamical Principles 470 Relation and the Analogies of Experience 475 A. First Analogy: Principle of Persistence 476 B. Second Analogy: Principle of Generation 477 C. Third Analogy: Principle of Community 481 Modality and the Postulates of Empirical Thinking in General 483 § 4. Logical Division and Real Division 485 § 5. The Transcendental Sensorimotor Idea 490 § 5.1 Quantity and the Unity of Faculties 491 § 5.2 Quality and the Condition of State 492 § 5.3 Relation and Information 494 § 5.4 Modality and Meaning 496 § 6. The Empirical Sensorimotor Idea 497 § 6.1 Objections to the Brain-Automaton Model 500 § 6.2 The 2LAR of the Empirical Sensorimotor Idea 503 Quantity and the Anatomical Idea 504 Quality and the Moving Powers 506 § 7. The 2LAR of the Data of the Senses 508 § 7.1 Quantity and the Physiological Idea 509 § 7.2 Quality and Seeming 510 § 7.3 Relation and the Idea of Generalized Emergent Properties 512 § 7.4 Modality and the State of Satisfaction 514 § 8. The Applied Metaphysic of the Data of the Senses 517 7. The Ontology of Determining Judgment 521 § 1. Ontology, Epistemology, and Logic 521 § 2. The Classical System 526 § 2.1 Plato 529 § 2.2 Aristotle 537 Aristotle's "Metaphysics" 539 Aristotle's "Logic" 544 § 2.3 The Neoplatonist's Aristotle 547 § 2.4 The Journey to the Present 551 § 3. Mathematical Logic 560 x Contents § 4. Ontology and Logic Under the Copernican Hypothesis 567 § 5. The 2LAR of the Process of Determining Judgment 570 § 5.1 Quantity and the Form of Determinant