1. Mental states and physical phenomena
por Gregory Bradshaw
With relation to verb choice
2. To See vs. To Look
• “Come see it!” expresses the act of seeing “it”,
mentally, for the mental experience of having
seen it.
• “Come see this painting I did.” again stresses the
idea of seeing the painting for the mental
experience of seeing it. In this case, specifying
“this painting I did” merely indicates that the
speaker doesn’t believe the listener has enough
contextual information to interpret “it” in the
intended manner, “this painting I did.”
3. • “I see what you mean.”
• The first historical instance of this expression appears in
the Republic, written by the Greek philosopher Plato.
• Even though the listener doesn’t literally have a visual
experience, the verb see is convenient because it involves
a physical phenomena (listening) that evokes a mental
state; in this case, the mental state of understanding.
• Vision is the most important of the 5 senses for humans,
so using this expression implies deeper understanding
than the expression, “I hear what you’re saying.”
4. “We looked for organic products at the store.”
This phrases emphasizes the action of looking for
the organic products rather than the visual
experience evoked by doing so.
It is also implicit that the speaker means [s]he
looked at organic products rather than anything
else.
5. • “Look at me!” is a solicitation for the listener to
focus his or her conscious attention on a certain
aspect of his or her potential visual field (that is,
the speaker).
• Again, it is implied by saying this that the
listener will not be looking at anything else while
simultaneously looking at the speaker. This is
because conscious attention is a unitary process
directed by the listener’s mental state.
6. Primary Differences
• You can see many things simultaneously, but
you can only look at one thing at any given
moment, because looking is an active process of
focusing your conscious attention.
• Looking implies a greater measure of
intentionality, because people must decide to
focus their conscious attention; however, they
can see things which merely happen to pass
through their visual field. Ex: relationships.
7. Conclusion
• Seeing involves physical phenomena evoking
mental states, while looking involves mental
states evoking physical phenomena. Since
people are much more responsible for their
mental states than for the physical phenomena
they encounter, looking implies an element of
culpability.
10. Remember: two words are never synonymous.
Consider the following distinctions:
Hear vs. Listen
Feel vs. Touch
The distinction between these sets of verbs mirrors that between
see and look. Taking this into consideration, we might postulate
that originally there was only one word for a visual experiences
either evoking or being evoked, but that the need for a distinction
based upon the differences we have examined created a need for
two verbs to distinguish them.
11. • What’s more, we can see the same distinction
present in the Spanish language.
Ver vs. Mirar
Oír vs. Escuchar
Sentir vs. Tocar
Greek: Βλέπω vs. Κοιτάξτε
Hebrew: vs. Telugu and Finnish are exceptions: and
Chinese: 見 vs. 看 katso are used for both verbs, respectively.
Icelandic: sjá vs. líta
Russian: посмотреть vs. Смотреть
Arabic: vs.
12. Further Philosophical Considerations
• This examination highlights the ever present
dichotomy between mind and body. The
question remains: which came first, matter or
mind?
13. Are mental states the result of complex physical
phenomena interacting with one another
14. • Or do physical manifestations result from [a]
conscious mind[s]?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.” Gospel of John 1:1
15. • Or is it possible that collisions between light
particles create the illusion of a dichotomy
between body and mind?
