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Mind

This time, human evolution was shaped by a quest for tasty food

The problem journalists always seem to leave hanging when writing about new theories of human evolution is, for example: If early humans weren’t smart already, they would not have learned how to control fire. If they weren’t aesthetically sensitive, they wouldn’t have noticed aesthetic differences in taste. Darwinist theories about the human mind seem to be one long parade of affirming the consequent. Read More ›

Michael Egnor: From a medical perspective, “consciousness” adds nothing to the description of mental states

In his view, “ “Consciousness ” is a meaningless term that too often misleads us, and it shouldn’t be used in medicine, neuroscience, or philosophy: “Consciousness” is a very vague term and, ultimately, I don’t think it has any useful meaning at all, apart from other categories such as sensation, perception, imagination, reason etc. Aristotle had no distinct term for it. Nor do I think did any of the ancient or medieval philosophers. Consciousness is a modern term that seems to subsume all of the sensate powers of the soul — sensation, perception, sensus communis, imagination, memory, sensory appetite, etc. … The difficulty in defining “consciousness” is well recognized in medicine. For example, I ask medical students and residents who Read More ›