[lit-ideas] Re: Mind body interaction
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 09:20:20 -0500 (EST)
In a message dated 12/12/2013 4:45:34 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/11/soldier-controls-bionic-arm-u
sing-power-of-thought
"Though such cases will never convince the hardened
physicalist/materialist, who may insist whatever is going on here is just
physics of some sort,
surely for the less dogmatic a case like this would seem to show the power
of conscious thought to causally affect the physical - to work, in a
back-and-forth interactionist way, with the electro-chemical potentialities of
the
body like a programmer setting in place a new programme on a computer.
Where without the programmer, without conscious thought, the body is powerless
here to re-programme itself."
Fascinating.
I read on:
"Soubry said the technology could eventually help people across the
country who had suffered accidents, not only those who had been injured while
serving in the armed forces."
Of course, for the Jameses (Willam and his brother), of Harvard, the 'power
of thought' should also be evidenced if we happen to find a soldier (or
another person) who can control ANOTHER soldier's (or person's) bionic arm.
I read fom:
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/t/telepathy.html
"Psychologist and philosopher William James was very enthusiastic toward
telepathy and encouraged more research be put into it."
Telekinesis is another keyword that relates to James in Harvard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusapia_Palladino
and may relate to the admirable "Guardian" piece that McEvoy shared with
the forum:
"A photograph, taken in the dark, of a small stool behind her that moved
and levitated, revealed the stool to be sitting on Palladino's head. After
she saw this photo, the stool remained immobile on the floor. A plaster
impression taken of a spirit hand matched Palladino's hand. She was caught
using
a hair to perform "controlled" scientific experiments. In the dim light,
her fist, wrapped in a handkerchief, became a materialized spirit. Hugo
Münsterberg, who succeeded Professor William James at Harvard University,
later
attended some sittings and explained that the blowing out of the cabinet
curtains when all the windows were closed and doors were locked was
accomplished by a rubber bulb that Palladino had in her hand."
McEvoy:
"Though such cases will never convince the hardened
physicalist/materialist, who may insist whatever is going on here is just
physics of some sort..."
Never mind the hardened physicalist. There's also the weakened
functionalist, as Grice was. For a weakened form of functionalism, every
evidence for
mind-body interaction should be taken -- not "literally" as Kim Kardashian
would add, but 'figuratively' -- with a "pinch" of salt.
Or not.
Cheers,
Speranza
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