Unpacking the black box...

The contents of the mind have been referred to as a “black box” of the unknown. First conceptualized by American psychologist and behavioralist B.F. Skinner, the box describes that which traditional behavioralists believe to be unobservable. Skinner believed that what we perceive of as free will is an illusion created by repeated reinforcement of response to stimuli. We can alter the outputs (response) by altering the inputs (stimulus). Others argue that this is not the entire story. That consciousness is more nuanced, and that the black box can be opened. Free will is deeper than stimulus and response, and that the perception of having free will is enough to confirm its existence. Opening Skinner’s black box reveals everything between stimulus and response to reconstruct the oneness of the mind.

The Continents of the Mind

Annika Anderson, Luke Chamberlain, Randi Selvey
Based on the work of Dr. Logan Edwards, UW-Whitewater

Much like early attempts by explorers to chart previously unexplored lands, this map is rudimentary and far from complete.


A first blurry-eyed sketch with eyes not yet fully opened...

Body

We begin our journey at the mental conception of the body. Mahatma Gandhi believed that the presence of the body prevents humans from practicing perfect non-violence. The requirements to maintain the human body (food, water, shelter etc.) makes violence, against another living being unavoidable.

Conscious Mind

Our mind’s ability to think about thinking is the foundation of consciousness. Even if we doubt the existence of everything else, the mind is aware of the existence of itself. Jean Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness considers two types of conscious thought: being-in-itself and being-for-itself. Being-in-itself concerns the existence of objects. A person working as a waiter is not primarily a waiter, rather a person is primarily a person who just happens to serve the function of a waiter. Being for-itself is the idea of you as a person. Sartre said that to act in good faith, an individual must be aware of their own consciousness through self-reflection. To not only be aware of yourself, but to be aware of your own self-reflection.

Subjectivity

Two people walking together as a rainstorm starts have wildly different reactions – one depressed, while the other elated. One objective reality can produce multiple subjective realities created from differences in perception, mood, feelings, abilities, creativity, language, etc. How can we say that one is more “real” than the other?

Ego

The ego moderates the unrealistic id to govern how one ought to act in the world. Freud suggested that all behavior is motivated by self-interest seeking to maximize pleasure and minimize displeasure. Behaving in this way, however, is untenable and must be balanced by the altruistic ego.

Anti-Ego

Atop Maslow’s hierarchy is the ideal self, self-actualization, or the “ideal ego.” Only when all other base needs (physiological, safety, love & belongingness, and esteem) have been met, can one be free to pursue one’s unique potential and fulfillment. Western philosophy starting in ancient Greece has conceptualized the soul as “something that a person can risk and lose and that, after death, endures as a shade in the underworld”. By contrast Eastern philosophy purports that the human soul is a part of an interconnected collective soul.

Others

If the self exists, then the other exists as well. The environment in which the self exists is the other that is in constant interaction with the self. Materialism is the idea that all things develop as a product of their environment, and that change occurs when contradictions exist in the conditions of the environment (e.g., organisms evolve when there is a contradiction between their adaptive characteristics and their environment).

Will

Arthur Schopenhauer in his work The World as Will and Representation coined the term wille zum leben (the will to life), a force within all of us more powerful than reason, logic, or emotion. This is a mindless, aimless impulse that serves as the bedrock for all our instincts and the foundation of all life. Schopenhauer posited this as the reason why much of our social lives are dictated by romance and love.

Freedom

Consider a man standing on the edge of a tall building. The man looks over the edge and is overcome by two fears simultaneously – the fear of falling, and the fear of having a sudden impulse to jump. The second fear comes from the man realizing that he has the complete freedom to choose. Kierkegaard calls this the “dizziness of freedom,” and suggests that we experience it whenever we make a moral decision. Rather than becoming overcome by this anxiety, we can instead use it to enhance our self-determination and the ownership we feel over the decisions we make.

Unconscious Mind

When a smell or an image unexpectedly conjures up an old memory you had thought was forgotten, your mind is delving into the unconscious - the place containing the memories and impulses of which in our day-to-day lives we are unaware. The collective unconscious, a concept introduced by Carl Jung, is common to all humankind regardless of culture, and is evidenced by people from opposite sides of the globe dreaming of imagery reminiscent of a shared mythology, arising from a shared origin of the mind.

Objectivity

A debate as old as philosophy: nature vs nurture. Is it our environment or our genes that define us? Nietzsche claims, somewhat paradoxically, that we are both fated to be as we are, and that we can create our own realization of ourselves. These seemingly contradictory notions can be simultaneously true. Our minds are formed by both the environment in which we are raised, and our genetic code.

The Brain

The Mind

The Heart

The Soul

As the mind wanders through the continents, patterns emerge.






what was first an unknown connection, becomes a well-worn route.






The continents of the mind rest in the conflux of two vast oceans…

Everything