Mnemo-psychography
the origin of mind and the problem of biological memory storage
pp. 327-339
in: Liz Swan (ed), Origins of mind, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstrakt
The internal logic of a semiotic view of life suggests memory is the origin of mind. Interpreting the meaning of "sign" by way of Charles S. Peirce, the object of this chapter is to provide a response to the biosemiotic problem of the origin of mind in respect to both its general and specific formulations, i.e., as evolutionary emergence and as human environmental experience. As such, I hope for this chapter to express the biosemiotic view of mind and function heuristically for future research regarding memory and mind. "Mnemo-psychography" means that the mind writes itself out of memory. In regard to biosemiotics, the thesis of mnemo-psychography suggests that the mind originates out of interaction between the environment and the biological capacity for memory. By providing a biosemiotic reading of the results of contemporary memory research, specifically the work of Eric Kandel, Daniel Schacter, and Miguel Nicolelis et al., I argue for the thesis of mnemo-psychography, over a biosemiotic version of identity theory, as the solution to the problem of the origin of mind.
