Where Does Intelligence Actually Live?

Every Sunday, a new lecture. Our meeting begins at 9:00 AM with an informal conversation, followed by a focused dialogue at 9:15 AM, and an open Q&A discussion afterward.

This week, we begin by questioning one of the most persistent assumptions in modern thought: that intelligence, meaning, or knowledge must live inside the mind as private mental content.

We start with Wilfrid Sellars, who argued that knowing is not about having pictures or ideas inside your head. For Sellars, knowledge is something you do, not something you store. To know something means being able to explain it, give reasons for it, and respond when others question you. This all happens in what he called the “space of reasons,” the shared social space where people justify claims and hold one another accountable. Thus, intelligence is not hidden inside the mind. It shows up in how we speak, reason, and interact with others.

We then turn to Immanuel Kant, who asked how experience is even possible. Kant argued that we do not just receive the world as raw information. Our minds actively organize what we experience. Space, time, and cause and effect are part of this organization. They are not pictures in our heads, but basic ways we make sense of what we perceive. For Kant, intelligence is found in this organizing activity. It is not about storing meanings, but about bringing order to experience.

Finally, we look at David Hume, who challenged the idea that certainty comes from pure reason or inner insight. Hume showed that our expectations about the future are not based on logic, but on habit. We expect things to repeat because they usually have in the past. Experience trains us to expect patterns. On this view, intelligence is not a private guarantee of truth. It is a learned way of responding to the world, shaped by experience and practice.

Together, these three thinkers challenge the idea that intelligence and meaning are things stored inside the mind. They show that intelligence is something we do, not something we possess. It appears in how we reason, how we form habits, how we use structure, and how we interact with others. Understanding becomes less about what is inside our heads and more about how we engage with the world and with one another.

Join Plato’s Cave and the Orlando Stoics for a discussion on intelligence, normativity, experience, and the philosophical foundations that continue to shape modern debates about mind and machine.

READING MATERIALS

Wilfrid Sellars
Wilfrid Sellars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Sellars
Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism_and_the_Philosophy_of_Mind
Space of Reasons (overview):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_of_reasons ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_of_reasons )

Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant
Critique of Pure Reason:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_Pure_Reason
Transcendental Idealism (overview):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_idealism

David Hume
David Hume:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume
Problem of Induction:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_induction
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding

TIMEZONES
For our members in other states:
6:00 AM — Pacific Time USA
7:00 AM — Mountain Time USA
8:00 AM — Central Time USA
9:00 AM — Eastern Time USA
For members in other countries, please convert time using:
https://www.worldtimebuddy.com

The meeting begins at 9:00 AM Eastern, with dialogue starting 9:15 AM sharp.