I said at the beginning of this chapter that accepting the mind-brain identity theory has major
implications for questions about reality and knowledge, and I have tried to show how neural
processes such as perception and inference enable brains to have knowledge of reality. Implication,
like inference, is not a simple relation, as it requires looking at the most fully coherent system of
hypotheses, assessed through the dynamic interaction of representations operating in parallel. Hence
my argument is not some simple deduction: minds are brains, so constructive realism is true. Rather,
like all inferences, my conclusions are justified by overall coherence: given that minds are brains,
and given everything else we know, the most coherent conclusion is that people use perception and
inference to the best explanation to construct knowledge about reality. This process of justification
will seem circular if you think that knowledge should have a foundation of indubitable truths from
which other truths are derived. But no one has ever succeeded in identifying such a foundation in
either sense experience or a priori reasoning, so we have to strive instead to construct the most
coherent systems of representations that we can.
Fortunately, in realms such as everyday perception and theories in the natural sciences, our brains
frequently succeed in producing such systems that approximate how the world really is. For
perception, the reason for this success is evolutionary, in that human perceptual systems and their
forerunners in primates and other predecessors underwent selection for organisms that function well
in their environments. The explanation for scientific success is much more cultural, as powerful
methods such as controlled experimentation, statistical inference, and computer modeling have been
devised only in recent centuries. With such methods, it becomes possible to develop knowledge that
goes well beyond perception without succumbing to supernatural fantasies.
However, to possess wisdom and appreciate the meaning of life, it is not sufficient simply to know
reality. You need to know what aspects of reality matter, and why they matter. Wisdom without
knowledge is empty, but knowledge without wisdom is blind. The capacities of brains to gain
knowledge by perception and inference to the best explanation are required for the acquisition of
wisdom, but also required are capacities for assigning positive and negative values to what is
represented, including aspects of love, work, and play. We can understand this more deeply by
investigating how brains have emotions.
ผมบอกว่าที่จุดเริ่มต้นของบทนี้ว่าทฤษฎีการยอมรับตัวตนความคิดของสมองที่สำคัญมีความหมายสำหรับคำถามเกี่ยวกับความเป็นจริงและความรู้และฉันได้พยายามที่จะแสดงให้เห็นว่าระบบประสาทกระบวนการต่างๆ เช่นการรับรู้และความคิดเห็นส่วนตัวช่วยให้สมองมีความรู้ของความเป็นจริง ปริยายเช่นข้อสรุปไม่ได้เป็นความสัมพันธ์ที่เรียบง่ายตามที่ต้องการมองไปที่ระบบการเชื่อมโยงกันมากที่สุดอย่างเต็มที่จากสมมติฐานการประเมินผ่านการทำงานร่วมกันแบบไดนามิกของการเป็นตัวแทนในการดำเนินงานในแบบคู่ขนาน I said at the beginning of this chapter that accepting the mind-brain identity theory has major
implications for questions about reality and knowledge, and I have tried to show how neural
processes such as perception and inference enable brains to have knowledge of reality. Implication,
like inference, is not a simple relation, as it requires looking at the most fully coherent system of
hypotheses, assessed through the dynamic interaction of representations operating in parallel. Hence
my argument is not some simple deduction: minds are brains, so constructive realism is true. Rather,
like all inferences, my conclusions are justified by overall coherence: given that minds are brains,
and given everything else we know, the most coherent conclusion is that people use perception and
inference to the best explanation to construct knowledge about reality. This process of justification
will seem circular if you think that knowledge should have a foundation of indubitable truths from
which other truths are derived. But no one has ever succeeded in identifying such a foundation in
either sense experience or a priori reasoning, so we have to strive instead to construct the most
coherent systems of representations that we can.
Fortunately, in realms such as everyday perception and theories in the natural sciences, our brains
frequently succeed in producing such systems that approximate how the world really is. For
perception, the reason for this success is evolutionary, in that human perceptual systems and their
forerunners in primates and other predecessors underwent selection for organisms that function well
in their environments. The explanation for scientific success is much more cultural, as powerful
methods such as controlled experimentation, statistical inference, and computer modeling have been
devised only in recent centuries. With such methods, it becomes possible to develop knowledge that
goes well beyond perception without succumbing to supernatural fantasies.
However, to possess wisdom and appreciate the meaning of life, it is not sufficient simply to know
reality. You need to know what aspects of reality matter, and why they matter. Wisdom without
knowledge is empty, but knowledge without wisdom is blind. The capacities of brains to gain
knowledge by perception and inference to the best explanation are required for the acquisition of
wisdom, but also required are capacities for assigning positive and negative values to what is
represented, including aspects of love, work, and play. We can understand this more deeply by
investigating how brains have emotions.
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