There are many levels of thought, all poorly defined, and all capable of causing muscular actions conscious, subconscious, unconscious, etc...etc... The mind remains a mystery. Quite often, we do not consciously perceive(form conscious thoughts) what we experience. "Knowing" goes well beyond conscious thought. To claim that anything human related is not involving thought is ludicrous.
Possibly. If you want to redefine "knowing". Yup. You'd be surprised how much thought gets put into digestion or keeping the heart going. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Duck It may surprise you to know that both of those are under the control of the mind. eg: If the mind perceives danger(real or imagined) it can speed up the heart rate, and shut down digestion. Here, we get into the confusion of what is conscious, subconscious, preconscious, unconscious, etc...etc... Do you consciously detect small things like pupil dilation, a slight flush, a small glance(up, down sideways, etc.)? The non conscious mind usually does. And, with proper training, these things can become conscious perceptions. You cannot justify a claim that an unconscious(etc...) thought is not a thought.
1) Is that control actually "thought"? 2) What about when there isn't any danger? 3) Is it "controlled by the mind" or "just" an autonomic reaction? Possibly. But can you justify that it is? Not without a substantial amount of waffle I suspect (and removing it far from what is normally understood by "thought").
as/re "is that control actually "thought" Many seminars on just this subject while getting the psyc, degree, and There is no hard answer. With autonomic, we come back to "unconscious". And, yes there are people who can exercise greater control over the "autonomic" nervous system. When you dream, your mind usually shuts down the pathways to the musculo-nervous system. Some folks have become immobilized by fear. It would seem that the same control mechanism is (dysfunctionally)operating here. There are known cases of folks who can speed up or slow down their heart rate at will-----are they not, then, exercising conscious control over the "autonomic" nervous system? So too, people can control blood flow to their extremities. By concentrating on feeling one's pulse at the fingertips, one can increase blood flow to the fingers, which becomes obvious under infrared photography.
Quite. So to claim that an unconscious etc. is a thought is about as "accurate" as claiming it's not, neh? In other words: for most people in everyday life autonomic processes aren't thought about. And did they think to do that? So, again, not usual and certainly not in the normal course of things...
I see. You can't address my points so you want to start (as I said earlier) introducing "a substantial amount of waffle ... and removing it far from what is normally understood by "thought"". To answer your question: not usually.
Just answer the bloody question: "Do you consider dreams to be thoughts?" And, we will continue to work on your "points" (which fall into grey areas and potentially or partially eccentric spheres)(most likely partially)
Random firing of neurons? So far as I'm aware we don't remember most of our dreams, and (in my experience) the very few that are remembered seem to be pretty random, undirected, unproductive and "third person" (i.e. I'm aware that I am dreaming but can't do anything in the dream: as if it were a film I'm watching).
I suspect that you have a very narrow spectrum within which you think a thought is a thought. I believe that your narrow definition is not consistent with the most shared views within the psychology nor philosophy communities. Within the narrow confines you've adapted, it would be ludicrous for me to attempt to "address my [your] points". Let us leave it at that and return to body behaviour and thought.