Approaches to the philosophy of mind in Riccardo Manzotti

This study examines The Theory of the Spreaded Mind by Italian philosopher, psychologist, and robotics engineer Riccardo Manzotti. Among the theories of the philosophy of mind, The Spreaded Mind Theory, which has a physicalist approach, primarily investigates objects, the body as an object, standard perceptions as forms of experience, illusions, hallucinations, dreams, and time. Manzotti revises the perspective of objects in the studies of the philosophy of mind by placing the object at the center of the mind or experience. He also defines the body as an object among other objects in the physical world. With the body equated to the object and stripped of its special status, the definition of the object of experience or mind can now be comfortably made. Everything we experience or what we call the mind is nothing other than the physical world itself. Experience is the object, and the body is the object that turns into the object it experiences. Manzotti redefines perceptions believed to be produced by the mind itself, such as illusions, hallucinations, or dreams, within The Spreaded Mind Theory. These forms of experience, which seem to be outside of standard perception, are forms of experience fed by the physical world, not internal and mental productions. Time of experience is also among the topics Manzotti addresses in terms of experience or mind. The thinker, who rejects a linear perception of time, brings different interpretations to the concepts of past, present, and future within the framework of The Spreaded Mind Theory.