i’m stuck on my essay “are mental states and processes identical to brain’s states and processes” for like the 5th day. having a completely head numbing fly isn’t helping – i try to think, but its not working.
the biggest problem is that last semester, i had a philosophy and psych/phil class, where my essays whipped ass. i’m proud of those essays. they’re my cherished creations that state an interesting point eloquently, with arguments that i consider innovative.
this essay topic however seems to be at the same time too general and too limiting. it is too general as the prof seems to want us to answer the question, which pretty much reduces any kind of theorization on related matters to an impossibility, and it is too limiting as i can’t discuss anything except for the freaking mind-body identity.
i don’t want to write a boring essay, and each time i sit down to, my brain refuses to form coherent sentences.
however when i give in to the urge to write on whether “love is a brain process” which is kinda related to the question, i have stuff coming far more easily. kinda. but still more easily. (and i don’t know why love – maybe i need to find a different topic which would make it easier? i just really enjoy the question of love in particular as it relates to our emotions about other people, which is very tough to peg as a strictly internal process).
maybe someone sees a better question? the paper is due friday morning (so in exactly 36 hours). its so bloody annoying, because i know i could whip a great paper in like 3-4 hours, given how many ideas i have, BUT THEY ARE JUST THE WRONG IDEAS AND I CANT WRITE A BORING PAPER ON THE “RIGHT” IDEAS aaah! i want to write INTERESTING stuff!
p.s. for diny and others who wanted pretty visuals – go here. even though it doesn’t have much new stuff, its in progress of becoming the core of olya.org.
yeah that’s a weird topic for a phil essay. does he actually expect you to answer yes or no? depending on the material you guys have covered and are supposed to use, you could say ‘yes, but only if X’ or ‘no, unless Y’. in either case it might become loose and unstructured. seems like you have a choice between a strong boring essay or a weak interesting one. depends on what the prof is expecting from you. if you’re that stuck, i think it’d be better to just make it work, even if it means using standard arguments. but that’s just me, and if everyone listened to my advice on schoolwork, we would have a lot more garbagemen and janitors in canada.
Why must you beat your brain more than necessary?
It’s quite obvious that this guy is throwing you a very nice curveball. It looks like he’s trying to take you off the regular essay-writing process and give you something new. Less specifics, and less standard philosophy essay stuff. Break you out of the shell, if you will.
As for other states of mind that might spark some fire in your head, other than love:
4 major addictions: gambling, gaming, drugs, and pornography.
Competition
Ambition
Depression.
These are much more limited to the individual than love. Love is based on feelings for someone else, but you dont need a partner for any of these (other than competition, in your most typical cases).
Fire me an email if you need me to elaborate a bit more on these.
can’t help you with the essay question. the heat has melted my brain. but the new website looks hawt. great work :)