Have you read his theories about imagination and creativity? We're having a discussion here about what he really meant... He sais that our imagination derives from new combination of previous experiences. Then he sais that only religion and mystics label imagination as something divine. Then, as I have interpreted his text, he expalins why they are wrong, and how the brain can generate new combinations with old thoughts and experiences. But this is where he in my opinion fails, how can people imagine a god or something divine, if they in his own words have not experienced this in reality? He sais that it's impossible to create something from nothing, so how can there be a thought of a god, or similar phenomena, if it does not exist? The other side of this discussion sais that Vygotskij does not dismiss religion as invalid, but just points out that the thought of divine intervention comes from there. I differ. I think he dismissed the thought of something divine, but contradicts his own theories by doing so.
I think this coudl be true. Imagine the uncivilized people from thousands and thousands of years ago. Maybe it rained or maybe they seen lightening and without any knowlegde of where this stuff was coming from - invented a higher being. Every religion started from somthing - and they all cannot be correct, so I think its safe to assume that they invented these images and gods in their minds and not from prior experience.
There are two thoughts on the brain: 1) The brain is a finite-state automaton. It has input, computational capacity, and output -- but no random number generator. All of its output is derived from (possibly very complex) permutations of its input. If this is the case, there is no such thing as "true" imagination or creativity -- all you can hope to do is to rearrange all the bits and pieces of things you've already experienced. Even if this is true, however, the human brain records so many sensory experiences every day, and has the ability to mix and match so many tiny pieces of it, that you may never be able to determine exactly where an artist got her inspiration. In the limit as the number of states reaches infinity, or the complexity of the permutation becomes infinite, a finite-state machine looks like an non-deterministic machine. 2) The brain is either an infinite-state automaton, or is not an automaton at all. This could be caused by various quantum-mechanical effects in the brain. One of the hypotheses is that beta-sheets in proteins in microtubles trap electrons in zero-dimensional potential wells. Chaos theory may also be able to provide some model analogies, as it describes the unpredictable behavior of even very simple deterministic systems. As far as the question, "how can man imagine God, if he has never seen Him?" the answer that I can give is simple: humans are comfortable with the concept of social hierarchy and authority. People are also comfortable with the thought that no matter how big something is, something else is bigger -- the planet, the Sun, the solar system, the distance between stars, etc. Combining these two concepts gives us the idea of the "infinite authority," which would be God. - Warren
Thank you. He thinks the thought of a god is a misinterpretation of the perceived reality, made by lesser in psychology educated people.
