What’s an “umwelt”?
by Greg Krehbiel on 1 May 2012
Here’s an interesting read.
Who’s in charge — you or your brain?
That’s the title of the page, and it raises an interesting question. Is there a distinction between “you” and “your brain”?
The title of the article is “The brain… it makes you think. Doesn’t it? Are we governed by unconscious processes? Neuroscience believes so – but isn’t the human condition more complicated than that? Two experts offer different views”
I didn’t know that neuroscience could believe anything. You learn something every day, I guess.
And to answer the question in the title of this post …
We don’t have a strong grasp of what reality “out there” even is, because we detect such an unbearably small slice of it. That small slice is called the umwelt.
-- 2012-05-01 » Greg Krehbiel
1 May 2012 @ 1:56 pm
But the brain itself is something “out there”.
“Umwelt” is the word that is used for “environment” nowadays.
1 May 2012 @ 1:57 pm
Spoken like a true phenomenologist. I think.
1 May 2012 @ 2:26 pm
I meant “used in German” of course.
Yeah, I guess I’m saying what you would expect a phenomenologist to say. But seriously, I don’t see why a house or the moon is “out there” any more than The Brain.
1 May 2012 @ 2:31 pm
I agree with you. I certainly have more direct experience of “myself” than I have of my brain.