Mind Intelligence And Spirit
by Tatiana Velitchkov © 2009

The mind, intelligence and spirit are words that we come across everyday. They sometimes bring confusion because no one seems to get their definition, meaning and correlation.

The mind is a concept less understood by many people. Unlike popular belief, the mind is not a substance and cannot be studied empirically. The mind would be individual if it were a substance. The mind thus could be defined as the collection of diverse processes that allow empirical study. The processes are what we call mental processes. These mental processes are of various classes. They include perceptions, memories, beliefs and plans. This mean we can see and touch, keep memories of things past, develop certain beliefs about people and things and finally expect what to do to achieve what we want.

The mind is not exclusive to humans alone. There is animal mind and mechanical mind found in robots and machines, which have sensations and memories. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the human mind is the paradigm of mind. The mind of animals and robots is referred in analogy to the human mind. Though machines have a mind, their mental processes are not because of neurological processes.

Intelligence on the other hand is a class of processes. Thus, it is best to say that a person, an animal or a machine has intelligent processes rather than saying such possess intelligence. Intelligent processes are one class of the many classes of intelligent processes. This means the mind becomes the genus and intelligence becomes a species of the genus so that an intelligent process is a mind process. However, this does not validate that every mental process is an intelligent process. Intelligent processes are contextual. They are best understood where there is a context of application.

The spirit is another notion of the dualism of human existence. On one hand, we have actual life here on earth and on the other hand, there is that which want to become after death. Spirit means the one who breathes and the breath itself. We can therefore determine that this is the substance of life that is non-physical or that exceeds physical causes. All life hails from the spirit. The spirit refers to the spiritual processes that bear no natural causation. There are various examples of spiritual processes such as self-consciousness and free volitions. In conclusion, the mind, intelligence and spirit are intertwined.

Science Vs Philosophy
by Tatiana Velitchkov © 2009

In the world today, almost everything that occurs around us has to have a scientific explanation or a philosophical one for that matter. It would seem that science and philosophy are always at loggerheads. Depending on the worldview they favor, people will always explain things either from a scientific or philosophical point of view. When you use your brain to reason out something, the answer you come up with can be said to be scientific. If on the other hand you use your heart, then the explanation will be philosophical. It is important to understand the difference between science and philosophy.

Whereas science remains the same to a lot of people, everyone has his or her own philosophy about almost everything. For instance, no one doubts the scientific explanation about the force of gravity. It can be said that science is what unifies humankind, but it is philosophy that differentiate people from each other. You cannot classify philosophy, or claim that one is superior to the other – all philosophies are way beyond basic comparisons for each is unique in its own way.
Conflict between science and philosophy has been there for a very long time. Long before scientific explanations became known and acceptable, the world was ruled by philosophy. Philosophers of the old used to use rationalism or deductive knowledge to expound their ideas. Then science came with its experiments and facts, and it forever changed how people viewed the world.

Neither science nor philosophy alone can answer all questions. The two have to be used together to form answers that are logical, none is superior to the other. Science has been used, especially by religious groups to prove what was previously known only through philosophical arguments. It is true then to say that philosophy sets the stage for science. People who try to distance themselves from philosophy always find themselves thrown into other philosophies even without their knowledge. Those who try to ignore proof of what the world is actually like and instead hold on to what they think the world should be often seem like they are totally disconnected from reality.

People should understand that science tries to tell the facts of the universe; philosophy helps in the interpretation of those facts. This explains how the two compliment each other. The different ways we interpret scientific facts also explain how come we are all so different. Our philosophies make us so.

Take place in the chair and we will be joining you in a minute .

And do have some patience please…