Identity: A function of the brain or something more?

Armando Teran Jr


8/27/10

English 215

Identity: A function of the brain or something more?

Question: In your humble opinion, what is an idea? What is a thought? Where do these things come from and why? Run with these elusive concepts, and see where the writing takes you.

An idea in my own humble opinion is the main thing that I am thinking about. The word idea can be subjective because it can refer to an individual’s conscious mind or how someone speaks their mind when they have an idea. An idea is generally a collection of information stored in your conscious mind. Ideas can be kept secret or made public depending on the importance of the idea or circumstances. An idea can be good or bad depending on how a person follows through on it. An idea is what I usually get when I am attempting to solve a problem or deal with a difficult situation.

A thought can be considered an idea. I am assuming these two words are similar because they both revolve around an individual’s conscious mind and they can be kept secret or made public. A thought is how someone is processing their thinking. I get different thoughts throughout the day some good and some bad. A thought is what someone is thinking about. A thought is basically how someone processes their way of thinking.

Ideas and thoughts come from your conscious mind. I think that an idea and thought are two different actions because individuals react differently when composing and idea or though. An idea is what a person is thinking about and a thought is how someone is processing their thinking. According to Hazen “thoughts and emotions can be explained by neurons alone” (Hazen pg 94). Basically in order to explain how humans receive thoughts and ideas Hazen suggests that we need to study the human brain to understand where thoughts and ideas come from.