PHILOSOPHERS' CORNER

Thinking and Mental Action

Sometimes your mind wanders, and sometimes your thoughts focus on a specific topic. When your mind wanders, you're not really doing much, but when you focus, you're engaged in a specific mental action; you control what you're thinking about. So what is this mental control?

How to Think Two Thoughts at Once

We tend to think that you can only have one thought at a time. You can switch between different kinds of thoughts quite quickly, or you can think many thoughts one after the other, but you can’t think more than one thought at the same time. That’s a mistake. There’s a way to think two thoughts at once.

A Puzzle About Conspiracy Theorists (Part I)

You might think that conspiracy theorists like the flat earthers don't really think about things. But if you've ever argued with one, you'll find that they do. They have an answer for everything. So how do we reconcile their irrationality with their rational thinking?