Internalism, active externalism, and nonconceptual content: the ins and outs of cognition

Active externalism (also known as the extended mind hypothesis) says that we use objects and situations in the world as external memory stores that we consult as needs dictate. This gives us economies of storage: We do not need to remember that Bill has blue eyes and wavy hair if we can acquire this information by looking at Bill. I argue for a corollary to this position, which I call 'internalism.' Internalism says we can acquire knowledge on a need-to-know basis by consulting portable, inner analogues of the world. This, however, leads to a dilemma. If the knowledge was stored in memory, it is difficult to see how we could have acquired it by consulting inner analogues, for it would seem that we knew it already. Moreover, if it was stored in memory, we lose the economies of storage that provide much of the rationale for external memory stores and hence for their inner analogues. If, on the other hand, the knowledge was not stored in memory, it is difficult to see how we could have acquired it by consulting inner analogues, for it was not there to be acquired. I propose a solution to this problem that turns on the concept of nonconceptual content, and I relate the solution to Stephen Kosslyn's (1994) architecture of perception and visual mental imagery. Viewed in a broader context, the solution shows that the world leaks into the mind, as well as mind leaking into the world.     

Boehme's mysticism

David Walsh, The Mysticism of Innerworldly Fulfilment: A Stud.)' of Jacob Boehme. Gainesville, University of Florida Humanities Monographs, 53. x + 139 pp.     

论宗教经验与宗教神秘主义--从约翰·希克的《第五维度》谈起

本文主要从约翰·希克的<第五维度>出发,谈宗教经验和宗教神秘主义.人总是有以超自然的方式来探求自然的内在倾向.人的本性中第五维度,即灵性的维度,它让每个人都有信仰的可能.我们的宇宙是一个含混的宇宙,包括我们认识宇宙的含混性,除了自然主义,宗教神秘主义也是从另一角度对宇宙的解释.但是,当我们以宗教的方法来解释宇宙的时候,我们就会发现,这种方法本身也具有含混性,于是约翰·希克提出宗教多元论假设成功地解决了这个矛盾.对于一些宣称体验到与终极实在本身完全合一的神秘主义,约翰·希克提出了反驳,认为对神圣者的体验只可能隐喻的统一,而不可能是字面完全的统一.     

Perspectives on contemporary mysticism

Contemporary mysticism is in continuity with religious mysticism of all ages. Mysticism, like all religion, has an ideological and an experiential dimension. Traditional Freudian theory is inadequate for understanding either the ideological or the cognitive aspect, because it does not adequately account for either the cognitive process or the self-conscious I. Categories of both ego psychology and the social scientific approach to religion illuminate contemporary mysticism in ways unavailable to the traditional Freudian psychoanalytic approach. The epistemological implications of the mystical attitude are considered, in both the religious and the scientific enterprises.     

Kierkegaard, mysticism, and jest: The story of little Ludvig

Throughout his authorship, Kierkegaard appears remarkably uninterested in the tradition of Christian mysticism. Indeed, in the only two places in the authorship where he broaches the topic directly, the discussion is disclaimed in such a way as to suggest that Kierkegaard really has nothing to say about it at all. However, attending to the successive incarnations of the character(s) named “Ludvig” throughout the authorship – an appellation that harbors an especially self-referential dimension for Kierkegaard – the present paper attempts to elucidate what may, with due reservation, be referred to as the mystical element in Kierkegaard’s thought. The ultimate yield of this endeavor is a vision of “mysticism” that is more act than thought oriented, and a vision of the author “Kierkegaard” that is more delightful than melancholy.     

Rival concepts of God and rival versions of mysticism

There is a well known debate between those who defend a traditional (or classical) concept of God and those who defend a process (or neoclassical) concept of God. Not as well known are the implications of these two rival concepts of God in the effort to understand religious experience. With the aid of the great pragmatist philosopher John Smith, I defend the process (or neoclassical) concept of God in its ability to better illuminate and render as intelligible as possible mystical experience.