Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
Category

Neuroscience

At Nautilus: A bioelectric theory of consciousness

The hypothesis that consciousness is a function of bioelectric fields includes the notion that our individual cells are conscious. Levin and Dennett are willing to think of parts of the body as agents too. But from what we can tell, whole persons are not agents in Dennett's view. Read More ›

A science writer offers some interesting thoughts on free will

It’s interesting that a science writer sees through the most fundamental materialist rot. Unfortunately, it sounds as though he hopes to replace it with a different one. Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: A reader asks: Is it true that there is no self?

Michael Egnor replies, “The assertion that self is an illusion is not even wrong — it’s self-refuting, like saying “I don’t exist” or “Misery is green” Read More ›

Michael Egnor asks if materialist neuroscience is an unwitting Sokal hoax

Egnor thinks that while physicist Alan Sokal hoaxed postmodern journals (the famous Sokal hoax. of 1996), materialists like Francis Crick (1916–2004) seem to hoax themselves. 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 ›