Can the human mind create concepts or do concepts exist independently from human consciousness?

Answer 1

You are in essence asking the distinction between Socratic Truth and Plato's Ideals.

Plato held that the reason we can recognize any chair for what it is because there is an Ideal of the Chair, a real existential thing, and all chairs are shadows of the One True Chair.

Socrates felt we came to know things simply by experience and thought. The 'concept' as it were, was the usually truthful generalization from multiple experiences. A chair, then, is a chair because it meets the criteria established by our experiences. If in our experience, we never saw a chair that wasn't red, we might be confused by this blue object that otherwise looks and functions like a chair.

Psychology has shown that Socrates was more right than Plato on this one, though Plato's ideas are still useful in certain archetypal analyses.

Answer 2

Peace be upon you Your argument is highly fallacious and weak, Ill explain, and reaks of a pseudo-pantheism Here is a short refuation, I could write an essay on this.... We are our own creator. - Did you initiate your own consciousness? NO Consciousness is a process, of the highest complexity, a synthesis of a cacophony of senses, with the ability to reason, and interact with the environment which gives rise to the sensations in the first place, notwithstanding that our consciousness doesn't create the environment, for it is an external reality, and only have a small internal representation of it. We have the ability to give and heal our self of disease just by the state of our thoughts. - There might be some evidence to show positive thinking can help in illness, but this is also called DENIAL, when your internal state tries to negate the physical reality. Do you think that if some one has cancer, just imagining or believing they don't will make a malignant tumour disappear? We are God itself, and God is filled with never ending intelligence, though unaware of its full potential. Which is where our lives come in. - We are creations of God, God is the All-Knowing, he knows everything in the universe. Our souls which give rise to our consciousness in this world, will eventually leave this body and planet that we know about, to go to other places in the Universe, we already know the universe is gigantic. Conciousness is also what makes it possible for our bodies to survive independently without being connected to a direct energy source. - Our consciousness defined as being awake, could never even happen if we didn't have an energy source like the sun, or any form of light. The reactions in our minds are caused by photons hitting the retina, which initiates our consciousness. When we are asleep, we close our eyes, the light ceases to hit the eye, and we slowly fall asleep, we are no longer conscious. Now what you need is God-consciousness, to develop a higher level of thought where you are aware of God, and glow with his light. Read the Qu'ran, do the good deeds, and await the Day of Judgement. -onewhosubmits (aka Muslim)

Answer 3

the human mind create concepts. concepts are products of the human mind, eg, the god-concept

Answer 4

things exist independant of our conciousness, but we understand and create the concepts from the way we perceive those things...the concept of a indepedant real concept or objec is subjective...hence my reality and your reality.

Next question:
What are the problems with knowledge and the limitations of understanding?

Answer 5

We create concepts.

Answer 6

"Incidentally my Leige, that is how we know the world to be banana-shaped." - Sir Bedevere

Answer 7

I think both ideas are correct.