Noetic theory
Encyclopedia
In traditional philosophy, noëtics (from the Greek
noētikos "mental" from noein "to perceive with the mind" and nous "mind, understanding, intellect") is a branch of metaphysical
philosophy concerned with the study of mind and intellect. Noetic doctrines include the doctrine of the agent/patient intellect
(Aristotle
, Averroes
) and the doctrine of the Divine Intellect (Plotinus
).
More recently the term "noetics" has been employed by several authors who write about consciousness, spirituality and cosmology.
Richard L. Amoroso, director of the Noetic Advanced Studies Institute
, proposed a theory of noetics called Noetic Field Theory which centers on the idea that there exists an additional causal principle of purposefulness not found in ordinary matter but in fundamental cosmological principles of consciousness. He has suggested that thought and spirit are not, in fact, intangible, but are "Bose
or photon
-like" based aspects of the Unified Field, meaning essentially that the mind can be quantified by formulae which describe quantum materials such as light. Amoroso claims that his noetic model is the first theory of any kind to explain qualia
in physical terms. In 2010, NASI partnered with Steriwave Quantum Computers, a limited liability British company, to develop a quantum computer prototype based on "conscious quantum computing."
The Institute of Noetic Sciences proposes noetic sciences as an alternative theory of "how beliefs, thoughts, and intentions affect the physical world."
Noetic science, in the sense of the study of mind power, formed a motif of the bestselling novel The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
. According to the fictional Noetic science of the book, thoughts have mass (contrary to the idea that thoughts are weightless). As gravity affects all matter, thoughts do so as well.
Consciousness studies
Alternative philosophy and parapsychology
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
noētikos "mental" from noein "to perceive with the mind" and nous "mind, understanding, intellect") is a branch of metaphysical
Metaphysical
Metaphysical may refer to:*Metaphysics, a branch of philosophy dealing with aspects of existence and the theory of knowledge*The supernatural...
philosophy concerned with the study of mind and intellect. Noetic doctrines include the doctrine of the agent/patient intellect
Active intellect
The active intellect is a concept in classical and medieval philosophy...
(Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, Averroes
Averroes
' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
) and the doctrine of the Divine Intellect (Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
).
More recently the term "noetics" has been employed by several authors who write about consciousness, spirituality and cosmology.
Richard L. Amoroso, director of the Noetic Advanced Studies Institute
Noetic Advanced Studies Institute
The Noetic Advanced Studies Institute founded in 1974 in Palo Alto, CA is an independent nonprofit research fellowship with current offices located in Oakland, California near UC Berkeley and in Recife, Brazil where a new medical college based on principles related to Saude Quantico is being...
, proposed a theory of noetics called Noetic Field Theory which centers on the idea that there exists an additional causal principle of purposefulness not found in ordinary matter but in fundamental cosmological principles of consciousness. He has suggested that thought and spirit are not, in fact, intangible, but are "Bose
Boson
In particle physics, bosons are subatomic particles that obey Bose–Einstein statistics. Several bosons can occupy the same quantum state. The word boson derives from the name of Satyendra Nath Bose....
or photon
Photon
In physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...
-like" based aspects of the Unified Field, meaning essentially that the mind can be quantified by formulae which describe quantum materials such as light. Amoroso claims that his noetic model is the first theory of any kind to explain qualia
Qualia
Qualia , singular "quale" , from a Latin word meaning for "what sort" or "what kind," is a term used in philosophy to refer to subjective conscious experiences as 'raw feels'. Examples of qualia are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, the experience of taking a recreational drug, or the...
in physical terms. In 2010, NASI partnered with Steriwave Quantum Computers, a limited liability British company, to develop a quantum computer prototype based on "conscious quantum computing."
The Institute of Noetic Sciences proposes noetic sciences as an alternative theory of "how beliefs, thoughts, and intentions affect the physical world."
Noetic science, in the sense of the study of mind power, formed a motif of the bestselling novel The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
. According to the fictional Noetic science of the book, thoughts have mass (contrary to the idea that thoughts are weightless). As gravity affects all matter, thoughts do so as well.
See also
Traditional philosophy- NeoplatonismNeoplatonismNeoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
(3rd century AD), νοῦς – nous; from an ontological perspective, Nous or Divine Intelligence, or Demiurge as the first emanation of the Monad or One - GnosticsGnosticismGnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
(4th century AD), γνῶσις – gnosisGnosisGnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge . In the context of the English language gnosis generally refers to the word's meaning within the spheres of Christian mysticism, Mystery religions and Gnosticism where it signifies 'spiritual knowledge' in the sense of mystical enlightenment.-Related...
, meaning "knowledge" (or in this case "esoteric knowledge"), though, as PlotinusPlotinusPlotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
points out, the Gnostic view of knowledge by vilifying the Nous (the DemiurgeDemiurgeThe demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...
) opposes the Hellenistic view of knowledge (see Neoplatonism and GnosticismNeoplatonism and GnosticismNeoplatonism is the modern term for a school of Hellenistic philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century, based on the teachings of Plato and some of his early followers. Neoplatonism took definitive shape with the philosopher Plotinus, who claimed to have received his teachings from Ammonius...
) - Medieval Christian philosophy of Intellect
- ImmanenceImmanenceImmanence refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing of the material world. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world...
Consciousness studies
- NoesisNoemaNoema derives from the Greek word νόημα meaning thought or what is thought about. Edmund Husserl used noema as a technical term in Phenomenology to stand for the object or content of a thought, judgment or perception, but its precise meaning in his work has remained a matter of...
, a technical term in the BrentanoBrentanoThere are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano:* Antonie Brentano* August Brentano, bookseller* Bernard von Brentano, novelist* Christian Brentano* Clemens Brentano, poet and novelist, brother of Bettina von Arnim There are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano:* Antonie...
–Husserl philosophy of intentionalityIntentionalityThe term intentionality was introduced by Jeremy Bentham as a principle of utility in his doctrine of consciousness for the purpose of distinguishing acts that are intentional and acts that are not...
tradition - Noetics (Zarkadakis)George ZarkadakisGeorge Zarkadakis is novelist, poet, playwright, and popular science writer, born in Athens in 1964.-Academic and popular science work:In 1982, he migrated to London, England, where he studied systems engineering at City University. At the age of 24 he received his PhD in Artificial Intelligence...
Alternative philosophy and parapsychology
- New ThoughtNew ThoughtNew Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
- Integral thoughtIntegral thoughtIntegral is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and many other areas regarding a comprehensive synthesizing transdisciplinary framework or multidimensional perspective to a given field...
and Ken WilberKen WilberKenneth Earl Wilber II is an American author who has written about mysticism, philosophy, ecology, and developmental psychology. His work formulates what he calls Integral Theory. In 1998, he founded the Integral Institute, for teaching and applications of Integral theory.-Biography:Ken Wilber was... - Institute of Noetic Sciences and Christian de QuinceyChristian de QuinceyChristian de Quincey, Ph.D., is a philosopher and author who teaches consciousness, spirituality and cosmology at universities and colleges in the United States and Europe. He is also an international speaker on consciousness....
- Noetic Advanced Studies InstituteNoetic Advanced Studies InstituteThe Noetic Advanced Studies Institute founded in 1974 in Palo Alto, CA is an independent nonprofit research fellowship with current offices located in Oakland, California near UC Berkeley and in Recife, Brazil where a new medical college based on principles related to Saude Quantico is being...
- NoosphereNoosphereNoosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
, a concept in Teilhard de Chardin's thought - PanpsychismPanpsychismIn philosophy, panpsychism is the view that all matter has a mental aspect, or, alternatively, all objects have a unified center of experience or point of view...
- TechnoeticTechnoeticThe term technoetic was created by Roy Ascott during his career as an artist and theorist in the fields of cybernetics and telematics. Ascott coined the term from a compound of the Greek words Techne and noetikos, and defined it as the quest to understand the effects of technology on...
Further reading
- Davidson, H.A., Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect. Their Cosmologies, Theories of the Active Intellect, and Theories of Human Intellect, New York-Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Kenny, Anthony, Aquinas on Mind, Routledge, 1994.
- Brentano, Franz, Sensory and Noetic Consciousness: Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint III, International Library of Philosophy and Scientific Method, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.
- de Quincey, C., Radical Knowing: Understanding Consciousness through Relationship, Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 2005.