Philosophy › Section B · Critical thinking, reading, and writing › Topic B.1
The brain as an inference machine
Before you can reason well, it helps to know how your mind reasons when you are not watching. The brain draws conclusions all the time, mostly without telling you, and its usual successes explain its typical mistakes.
In this topic
- Why begin with the brain?
- A caution about brain talk
- Representations
- Perception is inference, not photography
- Worked example: the hollow mask
- Emotion is part of reason
- Homeostasis and allostasis
- Fast thinking, slow thinking and attention
- When intuition can be trusted
- Worked example: answering an easier question
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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