Categorical Human Mind: A Dialectical Daoist Yin-Yang Perspective

Abstract

Human beings cannot function without the categorical (human) mind. The human mind, via cognition, functions in a both-and manner, affording for the dynamic exchange between the categories of person and environment. However, the categorical human mind has never been examined dialectically via a Daoist Psychology perspective. While dialectical thinking is universal both in the East and West, little attention has been paid to the categorical human mind from a Daoist yin and yang approach (i.e., opposite but interconnected). We explore the relationship between the human mind which could be both yin and yang and it is related to the environment categorically as informed by this view. Like the Daoist yin and yang, the unfolding of mind and environment can be understood as passive (yin) and, equally as much, as active (yang). The categorical human mind can influence the environment and experience (i.e., active mind), and also may be influenced itself (i.e., passive mind) by the environment or experience. Both the mind and environment operate across active (yang) and passive (yin) processes that are independent yet interconnected forces which mutually arise (like yin and yang). We discuss this dialectical Daoist yin-yang perspective of mind by focusing on categorical cognition and perception, social totemic cognition, stereotyping, and human development. These examples help to illustrate the both-and processes underlying the categorical human mind, emphasizing the mind as dialectical (i.e., Daoist yin-yang view); that is, independent while also interdependent and interactive , and featuring both active and passive capacities at the same time. The dialectical Daoist yin-yang view teaches us that human categorical mind is dependent on and independent of the situation and ecological environment.