Serialised book (with a progressively updated >>dashboard/ToC<< page). Part I: Metaphysics of the Life Instinct.

Book: Philosophy of Life Instinct: Chapter 5: Thought, Language, and Intelligence

Their validity for understanding ourselves

I am writing this book by thinking about things and using language. And you are reading it and thinking too. We better be sure thinking and language are reliable and how competent we are at using them, else this could be a waste of time.

A good indication that thinking is probably beneficial for us is that we all do it naturally, like eating and sleeping. Some seem to do it more and some less (I will explain below why I say seem about the extent), but we all think. And evolution is rarely wasteful, especially not on complex features, so thinking must be good for us somehow. But what is it exactly? What is a thought? And why do we think or need to think? Let us think about this.

Oh, right. To understand thinking, I have to use thinking. So we have a unique issue — to understand other things, I can use thinking, but is it even valid to use something to understand itself?

Well, there is not much we can do about this situation. We cannot know ‘thinking’ as an instinctive urge like the impulse to survive or mate. And we are not content to treat it as mere sensations of environmental information such as the presence of food or a threat. It is a different sort of knowledge about thinking we are after. How different? Significantly so, because we are in effect seeking a description of ‘thinking’ in words. I.e., in language.

So, language comes into the picture, another heavyweight in our world. We need to examine it too. How will we? Using language, of course. So we add to our issues. We want to know what thinking is by thinking, using language, and know what language is by thinking with language.

The apparent idea is that thinking and language may be the same thing, perhaps two sides of a coin. But a few questions immediately arise:

• Can animals and plants without a language not think?
• Can a child not think until it starts speaking?
• Can a person who grows up deaf-mute-blind, or becomes so, not think?
• Do we think in a language within our minds when we are alone?

And about thinking itself, fundamental questions arise:

• Do we need to be self-aware to think?
• Are thoughts and thinking the same thing?
• Are there levels of thinking?

Thought

The origins and utility of thought

In language, the words ‘thought’ and ‘thinking’ have many meanings and connotations, from a basic — “I am thinking of ice-cream”, to an abstract — “Honesty is the best policy”.

At its most fundamental, we can say that thought is an inherent capability in living things that enables them to interact with their surroundings and carry out the necessary activities for survival and reproduction, their innate urges. Despite its complexity in higher animals and our regard for it as something special, it is nothing more than this.

We can say that thought is all the things that happen in a living creature's thinking centre through the combination of sensory information and certain inherent capabilities, which we looked at in Ch. 2 and 4. Some of these intrinsic capabilities are — differentiation of objects, classification, association, relative positioning, pattern detection, memory, geometry, enumeration, logic, extrapolation, prediction, probability, selection between alternatives, applying feedback loops, and learning.

We called them Living Entity Universal capabilities in chapter 2. They are in-built capabilities in all life forms, with only their extent and complexity varying with the type of life form and its evolutionary stage.

In physical terms, thought happens in specialised structures, e.g., the use of specific sensory proteins by bacteria, the simple brains of earthworms, all the way to the complex neurological systems of higher animals, with the most complex being in humans, among known life forms. Within these ‘minds’, the most common design involves specialised nerves and networks for hundreds of functions such as sensing light, touch, smell, etc.; spatial positions and dimensions; memories; logic rules; and so on.

In this view, even the simplest organism, e.g., a virus, is thinking while swimming around in its host because it needs to. The Life Instinct gives rise to thinking.

We are all thinking all the time we are awake, and in some reduced but useful form even when asleep. Some may talk or write more about what they are thinking, but none of us is blank in the mind while conscious.

Consciousness and Awareness

By consciousness, we mean experiencing, more than anything else. To that extent, we can say that living things are conscious as they experience their surroundings and internal processes. It is a function of their minds, where we take ‘mind’ to mean the centre for processing information for action in any living being.

To be aware, or sentient, are similar in meaning, essentially analogous to experience. To state, “The bear is conscious of feeling cold” is to say the bear internally experiences coldness in its body. To say, “The deer is aware of the approaching tiger” is to say the deer senses and processes the visual and auditory information and concludes the fact.

Therefore, we can take it that all living entities think, are conscious, aware and sentient because they process the relevant objects and events in their environment, as per their capabilities and needs.

(Is there a difference between thinking and thoughts? It seems to be a needless distinction. A ‘thought’ also needs ‘thinking’, however brief it may be. Thinking could be a sequence of thoughts or an elaborate thought. Still, to be useful, even a unit thought needs to have a structure — objects, properties, relationships, events — that the mind reflects.)

Extent and variety in thinking

Can a living entity think more than it needs for satisfying its immediate drives? For example, can the bear think, “Should I stay in the cold wind and get tougher”? Well, if it can, it should. Abstract thought and imagination are part of living entities' possible inherent capabilities. Those with more advanced brains can think of more things, events and possibilities. In that sense, how much a life form can think is purely a function of its evolution. It cannot think more than it can. But it can think as much as it can. If the ability has evolved, we can assume it should be used to the maximum.

There will be variations in thinking quantity and quality between species. But there will also be differences between individual members of the same species. It is to be expected, as it is a part of the reproduction process to seed variations between individuals so that the fittest survive better and propagate their blueprints for further improvement. We looked at this in Chapter 4, “Life and the Life Instinct”.

Rationality

Rationality means thinking or acting as per reason and logic. It can include beliefs based on indirect or partial evidence or complete abstraction.

Reason and logic are justifications of effects, or conclusions from causes, using induction, deduction or other consistent rules.

At the basic level, rationality is a position that accords with the environment of the life form and its survival in it. In that sense, it is relative to the particular life form. What is rational for one need not be for another, although we would expect more similarity than difference in the life forms we know, for their impulses are similar.

Some actions and beliefs appear irrational but reveal internally consistent reasons and logic on closer examination even within a species or its members. Examples could be — sacrificing oneself for others, euthanasia or suicide, and so on.

Rationality is not a capability exclusive to humans. All life forms that survive are essentially rational, as their thoughts and actions are founded on reason and logic, however unaware they may be of it.

Humans have the ability to use language to express the reasons and logic behind their rational thoughts, beliefs and actions. It is a powerful tool for understanding themselves, other life forms and the rest of the universe. We will examine it further below.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness has a specific meaning in language. It means knowledge in the mind of a living being of:

• The separateness of its body from its surroundings.
• Its continuity in time, existing earlier, now and in the future.
• Its existence in the minds of other living beings, and vice versa.

It has evolved to allow the life form to be a subject, observing itself as an object of study. Then it can objectively understand its behaviour and motivations, which enables it to manage itself better.

It also enables it to imagine that it may be an object in others' minds and how it may affect the other life form or itself through the other. It is a form of emotional intelligence that can increase cooperation and survivability.

Self-awareness is a more recent evolutionary capability, seen in more complex life forms. The evidence is that it is far from perfect currently. No doubt, there is a specialised area of the brain responsible for self-awareness. Thought, as a basic mechanism of self-preservation, does not require self-awareness.

Conclusion: The evolution of our self-awareness is the most powerful encouragement to such fields of human intellectual endeavour as psychology, psychiatry, and philosophy.

Freedom of thought

A vital issue is about the leeway a life form has in its thinking. Two aspects are — the freedom to choose the subject of thought and the freedom to do something other than the mentally recommended action.

This line of thinking tends to the topic of Free Will, one of the most important we need to deal with. I take it up in the next chapter of the book. We will hold back its exploration until then.

Language

The origin and benefits of language

Speech is a social capability, different from basic thought. Its primary purpose is communication for cooperation, principally between members of the same species.

Language is the structure of speech, comprising words and the rules for using them. The structure developed intrinsically with speech, which would have little or no utility without a system. In humans, due to their geographical dispersion, a few different sets of words and rules to use them have emerged, so there are many languages. But they are quite similar in structure and capability.

Like many other capabilities, speech has evolved because working together enhances a species' survivability greatly. Two or more members can better find food, hunt, build a shelter, ward off danger, etc. Language helps convey information, coordinate actions, find more compatible mates, and a lot more. It is one of the most advanced capabilities we have. But it is not exclusive to humans. Several species of animals have the ability for language to varying degrees. Examples are — apes, dolphins, whales and birds. But even dogs and other animals with less developed vocal cords and brains use a range of sounds that communicate information, albeit limited.

All these animals' brains have a separate area for language processing. Of course, the use of language requires the underlying ability of thought. But in its basic form, thinking does not need language. We create most mental models of the world, analyse situations and make decisions without using a language in our minds, without an ‘inner voice’.

However, when I closely observe my thinking, I distinctly use words and sentences internally for specific ideas or situations, especially while considering more abstract concepts and more challenging problems than basic activities like eating and moving about. These situations are not all academic or intellectual; some are challenging daily life problems. Therefore, there are advanced thinking aspects in higher animals tied to language and requiring it.

Language evolution may have gone hand-in-hand with some aspects of self-awareness development. It is not to say that life forms cannot form social groups and co-operate without self-awareness or language. They certainly can, through earlier evolutionary stages of thought. However, language skills enable superior learning and abstract thinking about social relationships for versatile cooperation.

Besides the ability to name objects, properties, relationships, events and actions, language also includes the capacity of counting. The ability to count precisely or even approximately significantly increases the analytical capability of a life form. How far a species or a social group can count varies, from two in dogs, a few in birds and fish, larger numbers in apes and unlimited in humans.

Though we have evolved to have an innate ability for speech and language, their realisation is in proportion to the interaction of the life form with the world of objects and other members of its species. If this interaction is impaired or restricted, so is language capacity.

Whereas language in animals is primarily oral or signed, i.e., speech or sign language, humans have further evolved to use a written form. Again, this is a significant advance, as it can create communication over time and between geographically and generationally separated individuals and groups. It can also help humans consider more abstract ideas that multiply their power over the environment.

Intelligence

In its basic meaning, intelligence is how well a life form survives in a changing environment or across varied environments. A life form could be thriving at a point in time and place, but if it dies out when there is a change in its ecosystem, we would say it is less intelligent than one that adapts and survives.

Intelligence then comprises, at a minimum, learning, critical thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, creativity, and planning.

Intelligence evolves in life forms, like any other capability. Like other innate ' life entity universal capabilities, it can vary between individuals of the same species, like other innate ‘life entity universal capabilities’.

In the most intelligent life forms, self-awareness and language are among the essential components of intelligence. They enable emotional intelligence that enhances basic and automatic intellectual intelligence.

Conclusions

We have taken a tour of the critical capabilities for understanding ourselves and our world — thought, rationality, language, self-awareness, and intelligence. Listing them like this makes them seem more segregated than they probably are. Our brains have discrete regions, but many are intricately and intimately interlocked.

Despite all these powers of our mind, especially self-awareness and language, we come back to the problem of being observers of ourselves. We cannot entirely escape what we are and know ourselves thoroughly and accurately. We also cannot outrun evolution, which is a continuous process. Our brain is evolving too, made of matter composed in a particular way and malleable to a minimal extent.

We can’t have a mind that’s perfect while the rest of our body continues to evolve. Or do we think that we have already reached our final form, including our mind? Why would we believe that? A million years of human evolution is barely an instant in universal time. And evidence of our perfection is not there, in any way we could accept.

Our saving grace is that most of us will admit, readily or under pressure, that we are far from perfect if perfection is a measure of the assurance of our survival on Earth, with most members of the species healthy and peaceful in mind and body. We are nowhere close to that, individually or en masse.

Still, humans have an in-built drive to understand themselves, others, and their world, fit in better and produce healthy offspring. The species has a sort of ‘melded mind’ that recognises the great value of intelligence, especially abstract thinking, finding problems to solve, working well with other humans, and communication. The best exponents are rewarded handsomely by society.

It is an excellent sign that philosophical thought is a good thing. So, however poorly or well, we need to practise it, as individuals. Also, there are few subjects we find more fascinating than ourselves. So philosophy can only be healthy for us at any point in our evolution.

I think we are safe in making yet another attempt to understand and explain ourselves to ourselves through this book. Sure, it will be found limited when looked at in a century or millennium. But that’s fine. Let’s proceed.

However, understanding is pointless without action. Let us see in the next chapter if we are free to act or prisoners of our bodies.

© 2020 Shashidhar Sastry. All rights reserved.

(As each chapter of the book is published, its link is updated in the ToC below.)

Table of Contents

Part I Metaphysics of The Life Instinct

Part II Philosophy of The Life Instinct

Part III The Life Instinct and The Future

Published By Shashidhar Sastry

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