[Consciousness][Choe] Muscularity of Mind
Feb 27, 2022
This is a pretty old paper (2005) but still very interesting and profound.
G. Nagarjuna talks about the “muscularity” of mind, and how this concept can explain the transition from unconscious to conscious.
We discussed this paper a while ago in our lab seminar (in 2005!).
Here are the contents:
- Muscular roots of mind
- Harder and softer motor operations
- Softer motor operations
- Cognitive connection
- Socialization and externalization
Minor note: BTW, the name “Nagarjuna” is the same as a highly esteemed Mahayana Buddhist thinker (용수, in Korean), who is considered to one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.
paper info
G., Nagarjuna (2005) Muscularity of Mind: Towards an Explanation of the Transition from Unconscious to Conscious. [Preprint]
Abstract
The title “Muscularity of Mind” indicates the point of view that is argued in this essay. I attempt to trace the roots of higher cognitive abilities to the physiological coupling that exists between neuro-sensory and muscular system. Most of the current discourses on the subject base their studies more on the nervous and sensory dimensions, neglecting the most crucial of all, the role of voluntary muscles in shaping the higher cognitive abilities. I make a claim that emancipation of voluntary muscles from the mandatory biological functions to take on the softer habits during the course of evolution played the crucial role in shaping the higher cognitive abilities. I undertake to explain the transition from procedural to declarative representation by hypothesizing that softer operations that are peculiar to higher cognitive agents in the evolutionary order are rooted in the physiological nexus between neuro-sensory and muscular subsystems of the cognitive agent. The objective of this essay is to indicate that the problem cannot be solved without attending to this nexus.
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