Part Two
THE THEORY OF THE INTELLECT
The intellect
is the compendium of all understandings achieved by the individual in his or
her lifetime. Experience is the basis of the understanding and the intellect
is the sum total of everything that has been learned by the individual from
experience.
In this part the nature of the intellect and
its workings are explored. Knowledge of the functioning of the intellect
aids the understanding of the problem solving process. The intellect drives
all mental and physical behaviour and it follows that observable behaviour
is the indicator of the quality of the intellect. Intellectual quality is of
social as well as personal importance. How an individual behaves in the
community is a consequence of his intellectual achievement.
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The
Study of Intellects
The understanding of the process of
knowledge acquisition must account for the formation and functioning of
intellects and the psychological processes by which intellects acquire new
understandings. The investigation of intellects has to face the problem of
the difficulty of examining the arrangements of individual minds when
introspection is ruled out as a method of procedure. In a behaviourist
strategy one can start only with the facts of experience and behaviour.
Following the approach of the cognitive psychologists the form and functions
of cognitive constructs may be defined and conclusions may be drawn to
support the thesis that subjective knowledge can be investigated by the
analysis of behaviour, and can be explained as resulting from the processing
of experience.
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Experience
and Knowledge of Reality
The Theory of The Intellect
Chapter One
THE ACCOUNT OF THE
INTELLECT
Human behaviour
may be explained by the existence of an intellect which comprises a set of
understandings. The intellect and the understanding are the basic
theoretical constructs. Understandings are formed as the result of personal
experience, and may be investigated through the problem solving method.
The formula is:-
PROBLEM OF
EXPERIENCE...> UNDERSTANDING...> BEHAVIOUR
The processing of the
problems of experience gives solutions which are understandings, based on
which intellectual and physical behaviours may be defined and selected.
Understanding, as a problem solution, is therefore the cognitive construct
which relates experience and behaviour.
The intellect is formed within the
individual, starting from a state of virtually no understanding, and is
self-created in response to experience. The intellect develops in more or
less the same way for all individuals until the intellect achieves maturity,
which is defined as self-management. The intellect meets the individual's
need to understand and act in the world, by giving the ability to explain
past experience, deal with current experience, and to predict future
experience in some limited way. A competent intellect is one which produces
satisfaction and happiness in the individual. An incompetent intellect leads
to confusion, frustration and self-defeat. Problems are the signal that the
intellect is inadequate.
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Experience
and Knowledge of Reality
The Theory of The Intellect
Chapter
Two
THE ACCOUNT OF
UNDERSTANDINGS
The understanding is created, or modified,
as the result of the solving of a problem of experience. Once a particular
problem has been solved within an intellect the means to deal with
repetitions of the same problem exist within that intellect as automatically
invoked routines in the form of understandings. The set of understandings is
equivalent to the library of programs maintained within a computer and it
gives the functionality required by individuals to operate in the world.
The subjective understanding entity may be
studied through expressions of this understanding. These expressions are a
form of behaviour and the studies conform to behaviourist theory.
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The
Relationship of Understandings to Reality
The understanding is a representation of
reality as experienced, and the set of understandings model the world as
experienced by the individual. The understanding as a model of reality,
provides the database from which behavioural, including verbal, expressions
of understanding may be drawn. The understanding is therefore both a
representation of reality in the form of one or more models and a procedure
to be executed.
The understanding follows from the problem
of experience and the operation of the problem solving method. The solution,
as understanding, is normally a model of reality, an explanation of that
model and a behavioural set which dynamically transforms a recurrence of the
problem state into the solution state. The explanation defines what the
model means. The conscious recognition of a known problem automatically
leads to the consciousness of its solution in the form of the understanding
of the problem and its solution and the mental and physical behaviour
necessary to deal with it purposefully. For example, the event of experience
of a problem in the form of an arithmetic equation is followed almost
immediately by the recognition of its meaning and the understanding of how
to solve it.
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Experience
and Knowledge of Reality
The Theory of The Intellect
Chapter Three
THE INTEGRATION
OF THE INTELLECT
The
Problem of Fragmentation
Understandings are solutions to the problems
of experience. In an uncontrolled situation the intellect may have one
solution in the form of an understanding for every problem it has solved.
Each understanding has a model of reality and this is formed from the
understanding of the problem. Since every problem is different every model
of reality incorporated into the solutions will be different, and the
different models of reality will be incompatible with each other. The net
result is that the intellect possesses a non-integrated collection of
understandings. In this state it is unable to understand reality as a whole.
This situation is comparable to the state of
traditional science in which problems are solved independently of each
other, by different workers, and at different times. The result is a
collection of theories that have no common base in reality and do not hang
together. The intellect endeavours to overcome this problem by searching for
higher level understandings that explain some part of the set of
understandings of experience. The ultimate goal is an "understanding of
everything" which provides a common platform for dealing with all
experience.
The structuring of experience is aided by
the nature of education which imposes order on the teaching matter. This
order is most developed in the field of intellectual tools such as language
and mathematics. In the learning of mathematics the student, in starting
with number systems, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division
and so on, is grouping understandings into modules. These modules form
layers in the understanding of mathematics, where every layer, in the
sequence as taught, is a prerequisite for all subsequent layers. The set of
modules is integrated and structured into an understanding of mathematics by
the knowledge of the teacher. In education the student benefits from the
expert organisation of the set of understandings.
Complete integration on this basis is not
possible since the theory system is incomplete. Education is dependent on
the state of knowledge, and where knowledge does not exist the student is
deprived of the necessary understandings and intellectual structures.
In Western culture the student intellect has
only limited support from objective knowledge and must structure its
collection of understandings, true and false, in the best manner possible.
In this, the intellect is guided by the natural divisions of experience. In
thinking about experience and knowledge the intellect endeavours to explain
each natural division of reality, and reality as a whole. The nature of
these divisions provides assistance to the integration process. Physical
experiences, for example, are easily distinguished from all other types and
may be grouped together.
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To
read the complete chapter, the book can be purchased from
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