Deeply Ingrained Concepts

The page says some concepts are so fundamental in Western culture that they are hard to see, including Cartesian dualism, free will, individualism, and linear time. It then points to science and other cultures as ways of thinking differently about them.

Reading notes

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• The page says embodied cognition suggests thinking is distributed throughout the body and shaped by sensory experience.
• It says modern botanical science and studies of colonial insects suggest emergent behaviors and structures beyond current information processing.
• It says Cartesian dualism has been challenged by philosophical and scientific perspectives, including monism.
• It says many philosophers argue free will is an illusion and that choices are influenced by genetics, environment, past experiences, and gut bacteria.
• It says humans are aware of only a thin slice of the electromagnetic spectrum, while animals and plants can sense ultraviolet light, magnetic fields, or vibrations in the air.
• It says modern physics shows time is relative, flexible, and dependent on the observer’s frame of reference.
• It says some cultures also perceive time as cyclical or fluid.