Blueprints of the Mind: Using Common Sense Patterns of Thought to Acquire Knowledge and Gain Expertise Kindle Edition

Blueprints of the Mind describes a form of knowledge representation that is expressed in the common text and speech of a culture. This form of knowledge representation is integrated with our lives – it is “common sense”. The basic representation of most knowledge is the breakdown of concepts into sub-concepts, often displayed in an outline or a tree. The particular relationship which links the concepts and sub-concepts is also defined at the same time. For example a car and its sub-parts could be decomposed logically into a multilevel outline and the ruling relationship would be defined as a “composition”.Blueprints of the Mind describes the five basic groupings of concepts and relationships (i.e. ontologies or patterns of thought) that can be used to capture (i.e. document) the vast majority of knowledge. Blueprints of the Mind also describes several more advanced Patterns of Thought and how to document them. In addition, the book provides a logical way to add references to associated material (e.g. descriptions, graphics, software files, etc.).Because the use of Patterns of Thought is “common sense”, the techniques described in this book feel natural and can be used by people to do research at all levels of scholarship. Academics, independent scholars, hobbyists, home schoolers, and individuals, who just want to learn more about a topic, can all benefit from the examples described in Blueprints of the Mind.By using the methodology described here, researchers not only learn about their topic but, in so doing, create a knowledge base which can be used for future reference. The knowledge base can, of course, stand alone or can be used as a supplement to traditional research note preserving methods. Read more