Scientifically speaking: Is thought aware of itself ?

[RagAss]

If not, what is it that "witnesses" thought?

And where is this "witness" found ?

[Forkboy]

1. Mine aren't.

[tridim]

2. The Internets.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. My take:

One program running in a computer can monitor the activities of another one (think operating system), so why can't one functional part of the brain log and examine the activities of another part?

[RagAss]

4. Interesting take. Thoughts observed by other thoughts.

[shraby]

5. Wouldn't that be similar to having an uncomfortable

thought cross your mind and you immediately tell yourself in your thoughts "I'm not going to think of that, it's not where I want to go".

[RagAss]

6. Yes...but what is that thing...another thought?

And if it is ... what obverves it?

An Infinite Regression would run out of room fairly quickly in a human brain.

[damntexdem]

7. I taut I taw a puddy tat.

But did my taut taw that it taut of the puddy tat? ;-)

[RagAss]

11. I actually get it.

[Fumesucker]

12. I think that might be a taut-ology..

But I could be wrong. :)

[Odin2005]

8. Thinking and awareness are seperate things.

A big part of meditation is being aware of thoughts popping into one's head.

[romana]

9. Executive function

This may not be exactly what you're referring to, but cognitive psychologists talk about "executive function," particularly with respect to certain types of cognitive deficits (such as those founds in Alzheimer's Disease). Executive function refers to high level abilities that coordinate, control, and/or influence things like attention, memory and motor skills. You can think of it as a part of your brain connecting past and present by coordinating a lot of lower-level systems that are responsible for very limited things.

Here's a link: http://www.minddisorders.com/Del-Fi/Executive-function.html

[RagAss]

10. Thanks !

[tinrobot]

13. Awareness is the witness to thought.

Thoughts are always abstractions, they are what is imagined or simulated in the brain. They are about the future, the past, abstract concepts, other places, etc.

You cannot, however, have thoughts about the present moment. You can only have awareness of it. If you're sitting in a field, you can be aware of the sun, the wind, the sounds of nature. But once you start having thoughts about these experiences, you create an abstraction in the brain. This abstraction is a representation of the experience, but not the experience itself.

So, when you remove all thought from the equation, you simply have awareness. This is the part of you that experiences the world in real time, and not as a mental abstraction. Awareness supersedes thought, but can also witness thought. Much like we can be aware of a breeze or the sounds of nature, we can also be aware of thoughts that pop into our heads.

Going deeper, our awareness of thought can also be a springboard for new thoughts. Just as the awareness of a gentle breeze may bring up thoughts about where the breeze originated, awareness of a thought can bring up thoughts about where the thought originated.

But it all starts with awareness.

Just my two cents...

[RagAss]

14. Great post...

[freethinker2]

15. I think you are talking about consciousness

I have done some research on the subject of consciousness and thought. The best explanation I think is by one of my hero's Dan Dennett.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dan+dennett+consciousness&search_type=&aq=2
I hope this helps you out.

[RagAss]

16. That was excellent. Thanks.

[damyank913]

17. Ya see, Thoughts are a series of tubes...