Friday, July 7, 2017

Minds don't think

  1. Only things with minds think.

  2. Minds don’t have minds.

  3. So, minds don’t think.

Corollary: We think with minds, hence we are not minds.

There might be an exception to (2) in the case of God. By divine simplicity, God is his own mind. So God's mind has a mind, namely itself.

8 comments:

Sam Harper said...

Only things with minds think. Minds don’t have minds. So, minds don’t think.

That's like saying "Only things with hands grab. Hands don't have hands. So, hands don't grab." Something has gone awry.

Alexander R Pruss said...

Hands don't grab.

William said...

Holistic thinking about the body can be like talking about an onion: lots of layers. One can think up almost arbitrary numbers of layers, just by redefining the context.

Arms grab with hands.

Hands grab with fingers.

If it is only the "holistic me" including my hand that grabs, does that mean that it is really just the me without my legs that grabs?

So minds think, or don't think, depending on context, I'd say.

steve said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
steve said...

What are angels and disembodied souls if not discarnate minds?

Alexander R Pruss said...

They are minded substances, just like we are, minus the material properties.

steve said...

What does "substance" add to minds? What metaphysical work does that do? Is mentality a property of a substance, or a "substance" in its own right?

Martin Cooke said...

Funny and very neat, I love this post;
clearly it refutes its first premise. My suggestion:
Only minds or, by extension, things with minds, think.

Justification for your premise might have gone by way of
there being lots of things, only some of which think; and
such questions as do animals think? and do computers think?
All and only things with minds think, by definition of mind.