RE: Atheism. The UNscientific belief (part two)
October 15, 2015 at 2:34 pm
(This post was last modified: October 15, 2015 at 2:35 pm by Angrboda.)
(October 15, 2015 at 2:25 pm)jenny1972 Wrote:(October 15, 2015 at 2:06 pm)Homeless Nutter Wrote: Sure - and yet theology (study of god) and knowledge of magic have not advanced even a little bit in the past 500 years, at least - even though beliefs in such phenomena have always been more popular than science. That should tell you something.
yes it has there are beliefs about God that exist today that did not even exist 20 years ago . why do you think we believe in God yet do not believe in fairies ? if we just have overactive imaginations and believe in fantasy creatures why do so many only believe in one and not all ?
Quote:Theory of mind is a theory insofar as the mind is not directly observable.[1] The presumption that others have a mind is termed a theory of mind because each human can only intuit the existence of their own mind through introspection, and no one has direct access to the mind of another. It is typically assumed that others have minds by analogy with one's own, and this assumption is based on the reciprocal, social interaction, as observed in joint attention,[4] the functional use of language,[5] and the understanding of others' emotions and actions.[6] Having a theory of mind allows one to attribute thoughts, desires, and intentions to others, to predict or explain their actions, and to posit their intentions. As originally defined, it enables one to understand that mental states can be the cause of—and thus be used to explain and predict—the behavior of others.[1] Being able to attribute mental states to others and understanding them as causes of behavior implies, in part, that one must be able to conceive of the mind as a "generator of representations".[7][8] If a person does not have a complete theory of mind it may be a sign of cognitive or developmental impairment.
Theory of mind appears to be an innate potential ability in humans: one requiring social and other experience over many years for its full development. Different people may develop more, or less, effective theories of mind. Empathy is a related concept, meaning the recognition and understanding of the states of mind of others, including their beliefs, desires and particularly emotions. This is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes". Recent neuro ethological studies of animal behaviour suggest that even rodents may exhibit ethical or empathetic abilities.[9] Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development maintain that theory of mind is a byproduct of a broader hypercognitive ability of the human mind to register, monitor, and represent its own functioning.[10]
Wikipedia | Theory of mind
We have this machinery in our head for attributing a mind to other people. It can get misapplied to attribute mentality to inanimate objects, weather storms, and a general attribution that there is "another mind 'out there'". Since this is part of the basic machinery of mind, such a misattribution is more common than say, a belief in fairies.