Education for Students

The ‘epistemic gap’ was introduced in 1972 by Thomas Nagel who suggested that “one cannot fully understand the mind unless one is experiencing that mind.” To put his point across, Nagel used a bat as an example asking, “Could a human ever claim he knew what it was like to be a bat?” In other words only a bat can truly know his mind like only a human can know his.

Translate that to,” can we as humans ever be capable of understanding someone else’s mind?” Is the mind a separate thing in our bodies? No one including the most notable researchers and scientists can truly understand the mind can they? If you stop believing in the statement that what can’t be measured, can’t be real, and substitute that with a Buddhist belief, which is the mind must be experienced ‘first-person’ or it isn’t a mind.

For example, meditation is a means to discover one’s inner self. Medication is a first person experience. Since no other people can be let in, we can only share with our selves. Since Science uses a third-person approach and Buddhism uses first-person there should be a way to combine both. If a person can gain insight by reflecting on his or her self, isn’t that also using tools we’ve inherited through life and education to know one’s mind? Isn’t that a combination of using third and first person to knowing one’s mind?

We know that science will always involve study of the mind taking on a third person approach, and there will also be objective psychologists and psychiatrist who will study subjects and report their findings so that their practices can be become a standard method of treatment. This is not a bad thing for certainly many people need coaching and guidance before they are ready to take on their ‘own’ mind though meditation or other non-scientific programs like yoga and other natural mind and body holistic and alternative medicine approaches.

But taking on the challenge of going solo into the ‘soul’ of the mind has unimaginable rewards of getting so deep inside ourselves by ourselves that we are able to put mind over matter and truly know ourselves.

Related posts

• Evolutionary Psychology and Infidelity (0)
• Evolution and the Rock Star – Michael Jackson’d Death and the Psychology of Hero Worship (0)

Most colleges offer Psychology courses but few offer the perspective of Evolutionary Psychology and Infidelity. There is a lot of research which shows that men are more prone to infidelity and this is due to evolutionary reasons. From and evolutionary perspective, it is better for men to “sow their seed” as much as possible so that their genes will be passed down.

In a lot of ancient traditions, men were allowed to have many wives theories of Evolutionary Psychology and Infidelity contend that this is due to the nature of men to want to be with a variety of partners. This is shown in the extreme in research done in the gay community versus the lesbian community. Research in the gay communities show that men have many more partners in general while lesbians prefer to be in monogamous relationships.

It is interesting to note that men are not the only ones who commit infidelity. Studies have shown that while women are ovulating they are more likely to seek numerous partners. In fact, 1 out of every 400 set of fraternal twins are actually from different fathers. Evolutionary Psychology and Infidelity would content that this is because women are trying to find the best genetic partners when they are their most fertile.

People would be shocked to know the extent to which Evolutionary Psychology and Infidelity are linked. We think of monogamy as being the most natural state of being when in fact, infidelity has been around for as long as people have been on earth.

Infidelity is a huge problem because when a man and woman are in a committed relationship then they are able to raise their children together- but when a partner cheats, then they set themselves up to create an unbalanced family with children being raised by various mothers, or mothers raising the children of various fathers. While this can be managed, it does produce far more complications than the tradidional family system does.

Related posts

• The Epistemic Gap, Psychology, and the Scientific Method (0)
• Evolution and the Rock Star – Michael Jackson’d Death and the Psychology of Hero Worship (0)

When Michael Jackson died, there wasn’t a television or radio station that didn’t pay homage to the man. Day after day for well over a week, we watched and relieved every lurid detail of his life; his childhood and the strict regime he was forced to follow; the beatings by his father and how they affected his adulthood; his morphism from an African-American man into a character who could not quite be defined and his glorified eulogy, honoring the man for his compassion and love of children.

Most of us are drawn to celebrity stories such as Michael Jackson because we can’t get past the fame and glory. If only we could be as talented, wealthy and loved by so many. The fact that he faced financial ruin and labeled a child molester also brought on sympathetic emotions from many of us, because after all, aren’t we all victims in some way? Don’t we all wish for some drama is our lives to make it more exciting? Michael Jackson’s life fulfilled our need for drama, and we watched his story unfold to the point of nausea.

It’s time to take a hard look at why we continue to worship celebrities like Michael Jackson, and why unconsciously or consciously try to be them. It’s almost as though celebrities have become a religion in and of themselves, and we must follow. We seek ways to make us feel better through drugs and we go to plastic surgeons to make us look younger, and although most of us will never reach a wealthy status, we spend money on anything that will make us look and feel good. Those that have achieved wealth often time discard all codes of ethics supporting a need to amass more wealth in any way possible forsaking their friends and their families all for the might dollar and the status that comes with it.

It’s time to back-track and relearn what role models we should be emulating. Certainly their are historical and other figures that can give young people in this country a clear sense of what human kindness and a healthy lifestyle is all about. Instead of identifying with the tragic life of a rock-star whose demise was written in the stars, it time to find our own identities and teach our children what real values are all about.

Related posts

• The Epistemic Gap, Psychology, and the Scientific Method (0)
• Evolutionary Psychology and Infidelity (0)