Chapter 8.                      Part E 

          The human mind is therefore left, in the first place, with a cheerful pragmatism. Like the cartoon centipede, I cannot say which foot comes first. I simply move. I have to. And the human mode of survival is called "intelligent" because the human brain contains sense-data-processing systems which enable us to categorize and manipulate sense-data memories and categories of memories (concepts), then devise action plans that, when they are put into practice, get us good results. Our thinking systems enable us to plan and execute survival-oriented behaviors at least two levels more prescient than those seen in any other species, even though these systems of memory manipulation are all arbitrary and tentative.

 

They are arbitrary in the sense that they do not, as Plato would say, "cut nature at the joints".(1.) They do not divide reality at the places where it actually falls into categories of things. Under a modern scientific view of reality, nature has no joints. There are no universals. There aren’t even any terms that reliably name individual entities. Even "I" am not the "I" that I was ten years ago. Not even ten minutes ago.

However, the human styles of evolving new concepts and new behavior patterns by constant mental and cultural re-programming are very much not arbitrary in a deeper sense. We cannot function without some kinds of concepts by which to organize our sense-data and respond to them. If a vital program is to be retired, it can only be retired when a replacement is ready to be put in. Hazards and predators are everywhere. We are slow and weak. Yet we dominate our planet to a degree unparalleled by any other species in the history of Earth. Using our minds filled with concepts, we have devised practical skills, technologies, production teams, communities, and cultures, and we flourish. This is how I conceive of, and explain, my concepts about concepts.

In the second place, the mind is left with a picture of itself that amounts to a kind of realistic humility. If reality is that slippery and hard to grasp, then I have to accept that, in it, I can never get smug. I have to have a coherent set of concepts to base my thinking on so that I can perceive and act in this reality that requires me to act. But I can't ever get smug about my way of thinking. It may prove inadequate at any time, no matter how carefully I have worked it out, and no matter how vigilant I am. I may have to learn and revise at any time. An honest, modern thinker has to gamble on gambling as being the best gamble. I may be very tough, smart, versatile, and educated, but I will still have to grow and change in this world until the end of my days. I know and accept that. It is a way of conceiving of myself and my existence that makes life look frightening and unnerving ...and challenging and exciting.