Noetic theory

This article is about an alternative theory of mind power. For mainstream philosophical discussion of the intellect, see nous. For other uses, see Noesis (disambiguation).

Further information: Noology

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)^[1] and the doctrine of the Divine Intellect (Plotinus).^[2]

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,^[3][4] 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.^[5][6] In 2010, NASI partnered with Steriwave Quantum Computers, a limited liability British company, to develop a quantum computer prototype^[7] based on "conscious quantum computing."^[8]

The Institute of Noetic Sciences proposes noetic sciences as an alternative theory of "how beliefs, thoughts, and intentions affect the physical world."^[9]

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.

See also

Traditional philosophy

• Neoplatonism (3rd century AD), νοῦς – nous; from an ontological perspective, Nous or Divine Intelligence, or Demiurge as the first emanation of the Monad or One^[10]
• Gnostics (4th century AD), γνῶσις – gnosis, meaning "knowledge" (or in this case "esoteric knowledge"), though, as Plotinus points out, the Gnostic view of knowledge by vilifying the Nous (the Demiurge) opposes the Hellenistic view of knowledge^[10] (see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism)
• Medieval Christian philosophy of Intellect
• Immanence

Consciousness studies

• Noesis, a technical term in the Brentano–Husserl philosophy of intentionality tradition
• Noetics (Zarkadakis)

Alternative philosophy and parapsychology

• New Thought
• Integral thought and Ken Wilber
• Institute of Noetic Sciences and Christian de Quincey
• Noetic Advanced Studies Institute
• Noosphere, a concept in Teilhard de Chardin's thought
• Panpsychism
• Technoetic

References

1. ^ Daniel D. De Haan (2010). Aristotle's De Anima: A Common Point of Departure for Averroistic and Thomistic Noetics?
2. ^ Richard T. Wallis. Neoplatonism and gnosticism. SUNY Press, 1992.
3. ^ Amoroso, Richard. An Introduction to Noetic Field Theory: The Quantization of Mind. Noetic Journal V.2 No.1, Jan 1999. p 33.
4. ^ Amoroso, Richard. The Parameters of Temporal Correspondence in a Continuous State Conscious Universe, Reprint: R. Buccheri & M. Saniga (eds.). Studies on the Structure of Time: from Physics to Psycho(patho)logy, 2000, Kluwer Academic: Dordrect. p. 236.
5. ^ Amoroso, Richard L. (ed.) Complementarity of Mind and Body: Realizing the Dream of Descartes, Einstein & Eccles (2010), New York: Nova Science Publishers.
6. ^ Amoroso, Richard. The physical basis of qualia: Overcoming the 1st person–3rd person barrier. Noetic Journal Vol 4 No 3, July, 2003.
7. ^ US Patent No. 12,928/592 filed 15 December 2010
8. ^ Universal Quantum Computing Design Funded
9. ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. <http://www.noetic.org/>
10. ^ ^{a b} "Anti-Gnostic Polemic", Francisco García Bazán, translated from Spanish by Winifred T. Slater: Nous as a "Second God" According to Plotinus In Enneads, p. 55.

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.