As many of our projects have overlap or share common proposals we have crafted working definitions:
Thought: Thought is not just a simple, isolated mental process. It is not just the verbal stream of mental activity that we are individually privy to. It is a much more interconnected and holistic phenomenon. It is a flowing and continually evolving stream that transcends the individual. Thought is not merely a passive reflection of an objective reality. Thought plays an active role in shaping our perception of the world. Thought has constructive and attributive properties. It melds with perception and then it becomes difficult to discern what in our perception is a result of our thinking process versus our perceiving process.
On a more mechanical level, and we do propose that thought is mechanical, thought can be seen as the response of memory. We are greatly influenced by David Bohm’s description of thought as a system of conditioned reflexes.
Thought can be considered as a field with many subtle aspects. There are many basic skills we have developed that we take for granted that thought maintains for us. For example, the capacity to walk or balance in the chair. Some people suffer brain injuries that require them to relearn such skills.
You cannot truly separate thought from feeling as one effects the other.
Thought being mechanical is seen as fundamentally not intelligent, although mechanical activities can resemble intelligence. Thought however can move in harmony with the intelligence afforded by perception.
Thought operates primarily in the tacit domain. Bohm referred to this ground as the tacit infrastructure at thought. This tacit nature is one large reason why it’s hard to really perceive what is going on with thought as well as why it is hard to get at and change our thinking.
Knowledge: Knowledge and thought are highly related concepts and sometimes people use them interchangeably. However, thought is more fundamental and knowledge comes out of thinking process. Thought precedes knowledge. But it’s important to note here that thinking in turn can be informed by the processes of perception and imagination.
Knowledge, like thought, is referred to in passive terms. As if it’s just a recording of ink on paper or words on a computer screen. But both thought and knowledge are highly active. For example, if you have the knowledge that someone is trying to hurt you, your whole body goes into flight or fight mode and a very different state is enacted. If that knowledge is seen to be incorrect (you saw a shadow, or a friend was just playing a joke on you), then the state of your body resets to adapt to the new information.
Or if you have been conditioned a certain way, for example, against a certain group of people, when you encounter a person belonging to that group that knowledge acts, enters perception, and is attributed to that person rather than the process of thinking and knowledge.
Knowledge can also be used to refer to as the content of thought. There is a process of thinking and there are the thoughts produced by thinking. When the thoughts are well formed enough, whether as words, images, or symbols, they’re referred to as knowledge. Then there are more subtle kinds of knowledge, like tacit knowledge, that cannot easily be expressed in words.
Cognition: Cognition refers to the set of mental processes and activities that are associated with acquiring, processing, storing, and using information. It encompasses various aspects of thinking, understanding, perceiving, problem-solving, decision-making, and remembering. Cognition involves the use of one’s mental faculties, such as attention, memory, language, reasoning, and perception, to make sense of the world and interact with it.
Cognitive processes can be both conscious and unconscious, and they are essential for tasks ranging from basic perception and motor skills to complex activities like learning, reasoning, and creativity. Cognitive psychology is a field that focuses on the study of these mental processes, exploring how humans and other animals acquire, process, and apply information from their environment. It also examines cognitive development across the lifespan and the underlying neural mechanisms involved in cognition. [This definition what produced by ChatGPT 3.5]
Metacognition: Metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one’s own cognitive processes and the ability to regulate and control those processes. It involves thinking about thinking, or being cognizant of how you learn, remember, problem-solve, and make decisions. [This definition what produced by ChatGPT 3.5]
Advanced Metacognition: Advanced metacognition refers to the set of metacognitive skills that are proposed to be necessary to allow for the development of coherent human culture. Advanced metacognition refers to the sustained awareness of the process of thought so that thoughts movements become more visible. Non-advanced metacognition has more of an intellectual focus in its reflections about thought. Advanced metacognition is more akin to a practice or a skill that is born of a direct perceptual relationship. It has been proposed that advanced metacognition could result in the transformation of human culture to something significantly more coherent.
Perception: Perception
Direct Perception:
Insight:
Self-deception:
Proprioception:
Proprioception of thought: