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1	A Critique of the Learning Brain Olsson, Joakim January 2020 (has links) The guiding question for this essay is: who is the learner? The aim is to examine and criticize one answer to this question, sometimes referred to as the theory of the learning brain, which suggests that the explanation of human learning can be reduced to the transmitting and storing of information in the brain’s formal and representational architecture, i.e., that the brain is the learner. This essay will argue that this answer is misleading, because it cannot account for the way people strive to learn in an attempt to lead a good life as it misrepresents the intentional life of the mind, which results in its counting ourselves out of the picture when it attempts to provide a scientific theory of the learning process. To criticize the theory of the learning brain, this essay will investigate its philosophical foundation, a theory of mind called cognitivism, which is the basis for the cognitive sciences. Cognitivism is itself built on three main tenets: mentalism, the mind-brain identity theory and the computer analogy. Each of these tenets will be criticized in turn, before the essay turns to criticize the theory of the learning brain itself. The focus of this essay is, in other words, mainly negative. The hope is that this criticism will lay the groundwork for an alternative view of mind, one that is better equipped to give meaningful answers to the important questions we have about what it means to learn, i.e., what we learn, how we do it and why. This alternative will emphasize the holistic and intentional character of the human mind, and consider the learning process as an intentional activity performed, not by isolated brains, but by people with minds that are extended, embodied, enacted and embedded in a sociocultural and physical context. Learning Brain Learning Cognitivism Representational Theory of Mind Computational Theory of Mind Mentalism Mind-Brain Identity Computer Analogy Scientism Anthropological Holism Enactivism Intentionality Intentional Action Phenomenology Philosophy of Mind Cognitive Science Capabilities Practical Knowledge Bildung Wolf Singer Kurt W. Fischer Jerry Fodor Vincent Descombes Ludwig Wittgenstein Elizabeth Anscombe Evan Thompson Philosophy Filosofi
2	Action in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: an Enactive Psycho-phenomenological and Semiotic Analysis of Thirty New Zealand Women's Experiences of Suffering and Recovery Hart, M J Alexandra January 2010 (has links) This research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) presents the results of 60 first-person psycho-phenomenological interviews with 30 New Zealand women. The participants were recruited from the Canterbury and Wellington regions, 10 had recovered. Taking a non-dual, non-reductive embodied approach, the phenomenological data was analysed semiotically, using a graph-theoretical cluster analysis to elucidate the large number of resulting categories, and interpreted through the enactive approach to cognitive science. The initial result of the analysis is a comprehensive exploration of the experience of CFS which develops subject-specific categories of experience and explores the relation of the illness to universal categories of experience, including self, ‘energy’, action, and being-able-to-do. Transformations of the self surrounding being-able-to-do and not-being-able-to-do were shown to elucidate the illness process. It is proposed that the concept ‘energy’ in the participants’ discourse is equivalent to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of ‘contact’. This characterises CFS as a breakdown of contact. Narrative content from the recovered interviewees reflects a reestablishment of contact. The hypothesis that CFS is a disorder of action is investigated in detail. A general model for the phenomenology and functional architecture of action is proposed. This model is a recursive loop involving felt meaning, contact, action, and perception and appears to be phenomenologically supported. It is proposed that the CFS illness process is a dynamical decompensation of the subject’s action loop caused by a breakdown in the process of contact. On this basis, a new interpretation of neurological findings in relation to CFS becomes possible. A neurological phenomenon that correlates with the illness and involves a brain region that has a similar structure to the action model’s recursive loop is identified in previous research results and compared with the action model and the results of this research. This correspondence may identify the brain regions involved in the illness process, which may provide an objective diagnostic test for the condition and approaches to treatment. The implications of this model for cognitive science and CFS should be investigated through neurophenomenological research since the model stands to shed considerable light on the nature of consciousness, contact and agency. Phenomenologically based treatments are proposed, along with suggestions for future research on CFS. The research may clarify the diagnostic criteria for CFS and guide management and treatment programmes, particularly multidimensional and interdisciplinary approaches. Category theory is proposed as a foundation for a mathematisation of phenomenology. action Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic Immune Deficiency Syndrome enaction social enaction social enactivism enactive psycho-phenomenological psychophenomenological vipassana groundlessness mind-body korper leib co-generative Focusing co-creative environment Antonio Damasio reciprocal constraints Pierre Vermersch Claire Petitmengin Antione Lutz narrative discourse phenomenal invariants Evan Thompson Merleau-Ponty Algirdis Julien Greimas Husserl first-person Fransisco Varela modelling invariants Natalie Depraz isotope John Boyd OODA loop Jonathan Shear Shaun Gallagher Arthur Kleinman Humberto Maturana second-person Alva Noe Dan Zahavi stages Embodied Mind Canterbury Wellington New Zealand non-dual non-reductive embodied phenomenological third-person graph-theoretical cluster analysis cognitive science experience solution subject-specific categories universal categories universal categories self energy illness process intersubjectivity Mahayana Buddhism contact narrative recovered making sense recursive loop perception dynamical decompensation neurology diagnosis empathy treatment management neurophenomenological neurophenomenology consciousness veracity agency multidimensional interdisciplinary category theory enculturation mathematisation of phenomenology interview nomenclature diagnostic criteria incidence prevalence coping strategy etiology epidemiology psychosomatic medicine meaning women girl female anthropology sociology cognitive behavioral therapy exercise therapy recovery mindful awareness suffering symbolisation Prasangika no-self aggregates wheel of karma cognition basic element analysis mental factors operational closure stereotypes enactive ontologically fragile self grief process-knowledge epoche phenomenal invariants textual invariants compound meaning saturation formalisation cluster analysis inter-session review inter-individual validation explicitation interview intricacy confidence psychophenomenology self-esteem sanction self dis-integration permanence continuity ego-self emotion surrender semiotic square meditation empathy semiotic compassion existential feelings goal obstruction movement transformation change somatic Giovanna Colombetti agoraphobia panic anxiety psychotherapy sleep rest pain weakness strength stamina Diego Cosmelli heaviness food chemicals allergy recovering despair frustration helplessness fear efference valence afference as-if-body-loop consciousness representation attention recovery intention sustainable sustainability neurasthenia existential feelings asthenia hysteria mononucleosis samatha-vispasnya prajna vijnana Eugene Gendlin Abhidharma dukkha shamatha interdependence vipashyana

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A Critique of the Learning Brain

Action in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: an Enactive Psycho-phenomenological and Semiotic Analysis of Thirty New Zealand Women's Experiences of Suffering and Recovery