mind

/muynd/, n.

1. (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.

2. Psychol. the totality of conscious and unconscious mental processes and activities.

3. intellect or understanding, as distinguished from the faculties of feeling and willing; intelligence.

4. a particular instance of the intellect or intelligence, as in a person.

5. a person considered with reference to intellectual power: the greatest minds of the twentieth century.

6. intellectual power or ability.

7. reason, sanity, or sound mental condition: to lose one's mind.

8. a way of thinking and feeling; disposition; temper: a liberal mind.

9. a state of awareness or remembrance: The poem puts me in mind of experiences both new and forgotten.

10. opinion, view, or sentiments: to change one's mind.

11. inclination or desire: to be of a mind to listen.

12. purpose, intention, or will: Let me know your mind in this matter before Tuesday.

13. psychic or spiritual being, as opposed to matter.

14. a conscious or intelligent agency or being: an awareness of a mind ordering the universe.

15. remembrance or recollection; memory: Former days were called to mind.

16. attention; thoughts: He can't keep his mind on his studies.

17. Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. notice; attention: When he's like that, just pay him no mind.

18. Rom. Cath. Ch. a commemoration of a person's death, esp. by a Requiem Mass. Cf. month's mind, year's mind.

19. (cap.) Also called Divine Mind. Christian Science. God; the incorporeal source of life, substance, and intelligence. Cf. mortal mind.

20. bear or keep in mind, to remember: Bear in mind that the newspaper account may be in error.

21. blow one's mind. Slang.

a. to change one's perceptions, awareness, etc., as through the use of drugs or narcotics.

b. to overwhelm a person with intense excitement, pleasure, astonishment, or dismay: Cool jazz really blows my mind.

22. cross one's mind, to occur suddenly to one: A disturbing thought crossed her mind.

23. give someone a piece of one's mind, Informal. to rebuke, reprimand, or scold sharply: I'll give him a piece of my mind for telling such a lie!

24. have a good mind to, to feel tempted or inclined to: I have a good mind to leave you here all alone.

25. have half a mind to, to be almost decided to; be inclined to.

26. know one's own mind, to be firm in one's intentions, opinions, or plans; have assurance: She may be only a child, but she knows her own mind.

27. make up one's mind, to decide; form an opinion or decision; resolve: He couldn't make up his mind which course to follow.

28. meeting of minds, complete agreement; accord: A meeting of minds between the union and the employer seemed impossible.

29. on one's mind, constantly in one's thoughts; of concern to one: The approaching trial was on his mind.

30. out of one's mind,

a. mad; insane: You must be out of your mind to say such a ridiculous thing.

b. totally distracted: He's out of his mind with worry.

c. emotionally overwhelmed: out of her mind with joy.

31. presence of mind, ability to think and to remain in control of oneself during a crisis or under stress: She had enough presence of mind to remember the license plate of the speeding car.

v.t.

32. to pay attention to.

33. to heed or obey (a person, advice, instructions, etc.).

34. to apply oneself or attend to: to mind one's own business.

35. to look after; take care of; tend: to mind the baby.

36. to be careful, cautious, or wary about: Mind what you say.

37. to feel concern at; care about.

38. to feel disturbed or inconvenienced by; object to (usually used in negative or interrogative constructions): Would you mind handing me that book?

39. to regard as concerning oneself or as mattering: Don't mind his bluntness.

40. Dial.

a. to perceive or notice.

b. to remember.

c. to remind.

v.i.

41. to pay attention.

42. to obey.

43. to take notice, observe, or understand (used chiefly in the imperative): Mind now, I want you home by twelve.

44. to be careful or wary.

45. to care, feel concern, or object (often used in negative or interrogative constructions): Mind if I go? Don't mind if I do.

46. to regard a thing as concerning oneself or as mattering: You mustn't mind about their gossiping.

47. never mind, don't worry or be troubled; it is of no concern: Never mind - the broken glass will be easy to replace.

[bef. 900; (n.) ME mynd(e), aph. var. (see Y-) of imynd, OE gemynd memory, remembrance, mind; c. Goth gamunds; akin to L mens mind, Gk manía madness; (v.) ME minden, deriv. of the n.]

Syn. 1. reason. MIND, INTELLECT, INTELLIGENCE refer to mental equipment or qualities. MIND is that part of a human being that thinks, feels, and wills, as contrasted with body: His mind was capable of grasping the significance of the problem. INTELLECT is reasoning power as distinguished from feeling; it is often used in a general sense to characterize high mental ability: to appeal to the intellect, rather than the emotions. INTELLIGENCE is ability to learn and to understand; it is also mental alertness or quickness of understanding: A dog has more intelligence than many other animals.

6. MIND, BRAIN, BRAINS may refer to mental capacity. MIND is the philosophical and general term for the center of mental activity, and is therefore used of intellectual powers: a brilliant mind. BRAIN is properly the physiological term for the organic structure that makes mental activity possible (The brain is the center of the nervous system.), but it is often applied, like mind, to intellectual capacity: a fertile brain. BRAINS is the anatomical word (the brains of an animal used for food), but, in popular usage, it is applied to intelligence (particularly of a shrewd, practical nature): To run a business takes brains. 10. bent, leaning, proclivity, penchant; wish, liking. 11. intent. 33. mark.

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      in the Western tradition, the complex of faculties involved in perceiving, remembering, considering, evaluating, and deciding. Mind is in some sense reflected in such occurrences as sensations, perceptions, emotions, memory, desires, various types of reasoning, motives, choices, traits of personality, and the unconscious.

      A brief treatment of mind follows. The subject of mind is treated in a number of articles. For a philosophical treatment of Western conceptions, see mind, philosophy of. For scientific treatment of the so-called mental faculties, see intelligence (intelligence, human); animal learning; learning theory; memory; perception; thought. For treatment of Eastern conceptions, in the context of the respective philosophical traditions, see Buddhism; Hinduism; etc.

      To the extent that mind is manifested in observable phenomena, it has frequently been regarded as a peculiarly human (human being) possession. Some theories, however, posit the existence of mind in other animals besides human beings. One theory regards mind as a universal property of matter. According to another view, there may be superhuman minds or intelligences, or a single absolute mind, a transcendent intelligence.

      Several assumptions are indispensible to any discussion of the concept of mind. First is the assumption of thought or thinking. If there were no evidence of thought in the world, mind would have little or no meaning. The recognition of this fact throughout history accounts for the development of diverse theories of mind. It may be supposed that such words as “thought” or “thinking” cannot, because of their own ambiguity, help to define the sphere of mind. But whatever the relation of thinking to sensing (sensory reception, human), thinking seems to involve more—for almost all observers—than a mere reception of impressions from without. This seems to be the opinion of those who make thinking a consequence of sensing, as well as of those who regard thought as independent of sense. For both, thinking goes beyond sensing, either as an elaboration of the materials of sense or as an apprehension of objects that are totally beyond the reach of the senses.

      The second assumption that seems to be a root common to all conceptions of mind is that of knowledge or knowing. This may be questioned on the ground that, if there were sensation without any form of thought, judgment, or reasoning, there would be at least a rudimentary form of knowledge—some degree of consciousness or awareness by one thing or another. If one grants the point of this objection, it nevertheless seems true that the distinction between truth and falsity and the difference between knowledge, error, and ignorance or between knowledge, belief, and opinion do not apply to sensations in the total absence of thought. Any understanding of knowledge that involves these distinctions seems to imply mind for the same reason that it implies thought. There is a further implication of mind in the fact of self-knowledge. Sensing may be awareness of an object, and to this extent it may be a kind of knowing, but it has never been observed that the senses can sense or be aware of themselves.

      Thought seems to be not only reflective but reflexive, that is, able to consider itself, to define the nature of thinking, and to develop theories of mind. This fact about thought—its reflexivity—also seems to be a common element in all the meanings of “mind.” It is sometimes referred to as “the reflexivity of the intellect,” as “the reflexive power of the understanding,” as “the ability of the understanding to reflect upon its own acts,” or as “self-consciousness.” Whatever the phrasing, a world without self-consciousness or self-knowledge would be a world in which the traditional conception of mind would probably not have arisen.

      The third assumption is that of purpose or intention, of planning a course of action with foreknowledge of its goal or of working in any other way toward a desired and foreseen objective. As in the case of sensitivity, the phenomena of desire do not, without further qualification, indicate the realm of mind. According to the theory of natural desire, for example, the natural tendencies of even inanimate and insensitive things are expressions of desire. But it is not in that sense of desire that the assumption of purpose or intention is here taken as evidence of mind.

      It is rather on the level of the behaviour of living things that purpose seems to require a factor over and above the senses, limited as they are to present appearances. It cannot be found in the passions, which have the same limitation as the senses, for unless they are checked they tend toward immediate emotional discharge. That factor, called for by the direction of conduct to future ends, is either an element common to all meanings of “mind” or is at least an element associated with mind. It is sometimes called the faculty of will—rational desire or the intellectual appetite. Sometimes it is treated as the act of willing, which, along with thinking, is one of the two major activities of mind or understanding; and sometimes purposiveness is regarded as the very essence of mentality.

      These assumptions—thought, knowledge or self-knowledge, and purpose—seem to be common to all theories of mind. More than that, they seem to be assumptions that require the development of the conception. The conflict of theories concerning what the human mind is, what structure it has, what parts belong to it, and what whole it belongs to does not comprise the entire range of controversy on the subject. Yet enough is common to all theories of mind to permit certain other questions to be formulated: How does the mind operate? How does it do whatever is its work, and with what intrinsic excellences or defects? What is the relation of mind to matter, to bodily organs, to material conditions, or of one mind to another (see mind–body dualism)? Is mind a common possession of men and animals, or is whatever might be called mind in animals distinctly different from the human mind? Are there minds or a mind in existence apart from man and the whole world of corporeal life? What are the limits of so-called artificial intelligence, the capacity of machines to perform functions generally associated with mind?

      The intelligibility of the positions taken in the disputes of these issues depends to some degree on the divergent conceptions of the human mind from which they stem. The conclusions achieved in such fields as theory of knowledge (see epistemology), metaphysics, logic, ethics, and the philosophy of religion are all relevant to the philosophy of mind; and its conclusions, in turn, have important implications for those fields. Moreover, this reciprocity applies as well to its relations to such empirical disciplines as neurology, psychology, sociology, and history.

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