Where else?

Where else? — tim wood

The rock that Samuel Johnson kicked?

Does respirating take place in the lungs? or digesting in the guts? or being in the world? ...

Even if we're manipulating some ununtterable field, it's still happening via or about the head.

Thinking takes place in the brains thinking areas. That seems circular but I'm ok with it.

Actually it takes place with respect to thought...

Does having an opinion about where it is happening change any of the burden of being a person who finds themselves having the problem?

Before we can determine whether thinking takes place in the brain, we have to first establish the brain exists outside the mind.

Does having an opinion about where it is happening change any of the burden of being a person who finds themselves having the problem? — Valentinus

What's the problem? Thinking? Is that a burden? The OP poses a question, not a problem. One answers a question and solves a problem. Is this really the Philosophy Forum? :roll:

I am a poor representative of whatever the Philosophy Forum might be.

The question is a problem for me. If I am asked to locate a process in one place or another, does that mean it is not happening in other places?

How would one go about checking if such was the case?

A thought is not just process, but also has specific content. That might be a clue.
An affirmative or positive claim is easier to prove than a negative claim.
A negative claim is harder to prove. If your position is that thought might exist in other places, than a brain, then some burden of proof may fall on you.

Fair enough.

The brain finds itself in a not brain place. So the argument that it is where it is all happening is mostly supported by noting the circumstances where the activity of other things are brought into question.

There are attempts to present the matter in other ways. Give it your best shot.

The question is a problem for me — Valentinus

OK. Sorry. Carry on.

Tend to consider the brain to be a correlatory expressor.

That's why I brought up burden of proof. Proving the positive claim (thinking takes place in the brain) is hard enough. I can't do it. Proving the positive claim (thinking takes place outside the brain) would fall on you if that's your claim. Proving the negative claim (thinking does not take place outside the brain) seems imposible. This is tricky. So if I claim that thinking does not take place outside the brain then the burden of proof would be on me and I wouldn't be able to prove it.

The prevailing model is of course that thought is caused by brain tissue, and the natural conclusion is that these thoughts are within this tissue somehow or to some extent. Intuition makes this claim nebulous however, so do any models (as opposed to spiritual ideas) exist that account for how thought might happen beyond the brain, or is this uncharted territory?

So since thoughts have specific content you could estimate how many unique thoughts per day might be typical for a given persons brain. It might be five, ten or twenty thousand. The thoughts would match the history and circumstances of that persons brain. That is evidence that thoughts take place in brains.
Is there any alternative?

No, thinking does not take place in the brain. It takes place in the 'mind'. Thoughts are mental states - states of mind. They are not brain states.

Can a thought be up or down? Or to the left or the right? No, these are not properties thoughts can have. But they are properties of brain states.

Those who think that mental states are brain states either have no argument whatsoever - they just assume it and then proceed to wonder 'but how....' (that's most contemporary philosophy of mind.....it involves assuming that the mind is the brain and then noting that this makes no sense and then trying to make sense of it....it's the modern equivalent of discussing how many angels can be fit on a pinhead). Or they do have an argument, but it's a really shit one. It goes like this: doing things to my brain has effects on my mind...therefore my mind is my brain and that's where my thinking happens.

If someone breaks your arm/leg with a club, you can still think but if the club makes contact with your head (brain) with sufficient force, your thinking stops. So, I guess, the brain inside our skulls does the thinking.

No. See, thinking takes place in West Cupcake, Iowa. It always has. West Cupcake is not on the map, so don't go there. What happens to mind, thought, ideas, etc. when a double barreled shotgun blast sends large slugs through a brain, is that the connection to West Cupcake is broken--like when satellite service is terminated by a meteor smashing the orbiting machine into smithereens.

West Cupcake is not a server farm--it doesn't house individual thinking. There is no such thing as individual thinking, All thought happens in one place alone, West Cupcake produces all thinking. It's THE thought provider.

How long has this been going on? Hmmm, let me check... ... ... ...

Ah, here: for 97,000 years, 9 hours, 43 minutes, and 7 seconds. Before that, there was no real thinking. It was just slack-jawed Neanderthals, Denikovians, and Homo sapiens muttering, groping, and doing stuff like they were in some kind of a fog. Let me tell you, it was QUITE A SHOCK when West Cupcake began operations that Monday morning.

I hope this clarifies things.

No. See, thinking takes place in West Cupcake, Iowa. It always has. West Cupcake is not on the map, so don't go there. What happens to mind, thought, ideas, etc. when a double barreled shotgun blast sends large slugs through a brain, is that the connection to West Cupcake is broken--like when satellite service is terminated by a meteor smashing the orbiting machine into smithereens.

West Cupcake is not a server farm--it doesn't house individual thinking. There is no such thing as individual thinking, All thought happens in one place alone, West Cupcake produces all thinking. It's THE thought provider.

How long has this been going on? Hmmm, let me check... ... ... ...

Ah, here: for 97,000 years, 9 hours, 43 minutes, and 7 seconds. Before that, there was no real thinking. It was just slack-jawed Neanderthals, Denikovians, and Homo sapiens muttering, groping, and doing stuff like they were in some kind of a fog. Let me tell you, it was QUITE A SHOCK when West Cupcake began operations that Monday morning. — Bitter Crank

Good one! :lol:

Transmission from West Cupcake was interrupted twice, 1914-1918 (WW I) and 1939-1945 (WW II), and h. sapiens for some years reverted to their true selves - troglodytes but now, fortunately or not, armed not with just some rocks and clubs but with guns, machine guns, cannons, and, later, nukes. I wonder when the next transmission blackout will occur? The way things are going, probably sooner than later. :smile:

There is the theory of embodied cognition, which suggests that cognitive processes are not limited to the brain but draw from aspects of the entire body.

I'm not too involved with the topic but I know there are a good few studies in the field. Maybe someone is a bit more familiar and knows some prominent ones to showcase?

Chemical processes throughout the body certainly affect the brain to some degree. Yet it seems clear to me that "The process of considering or reasoning about something" takes place in the brain. I'd put it that way: Actions that rely on words (like computation, problem analysis, etc.) are formulated as thoughts within our head.

As far as embodied cognition goes, I'd account it for certain types of "thinking" that are more subtle. Muscle memory or the moving of the diaphragm come to mind.

Thanks for your response but I will not comment on it because this is just a poll.

Thanks for your sharing your position and I would like to respond to it but this is just a poll.

Thanks for your response and the sharing of your position, but I won't comment on it because this is just a poll.

No problemo!

Thanks for your response but I won't comment on it because this is just a poll.

"The process of considering or reasoning about something" takes place in the brain. I'd put it that way: Actions that rely on words (like computation, problem analysis, etc.) are formulated as thoughts within our head. — Hermeticus

Though it could be the case that brains are immersed in a field within which thoughts are transmitted beyond the skull, and maybe brains generate aspects of this field. All kinds of new agey concepts such as auras and astral projection suggest so. Is there anything to it, pure hokum, or somewhere in between?

Does thinking take place in the human brain? — Alkis Piskas

Yes, it does, but where the "ideas" that make up the whole process of "Thinking" from its conception to its conclusion come from, that is another discussion.

A person thinks. Not a brain.

I've never seen a brain think, or reflect or cognize. But people, on the other hand, do all these things.

So thinking takes place in a person's brain, not a brain itself.