Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Hey You, Is Anybody In There?

Barry Arrington
June 13, 2014
Intelligent Design
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Awareness of the subjective self that is aware has been called the “primordial datum.” It can be denied only on pain of descent into absurdity on the order of “I do not believe that I exist.” Sadly, these pages have seen all too many who have rushed eagerly off that particular cliff.

Comments
The bible says God breathed life into biology. So all creatures must be aware of themselves. We are aware of our selves more because we are made in Gods image. so we are more thoughtful. All creatures however show Gods special creation. The rest of the universe is mechanical. Robert Byers
Materialism is the belief that blind forces are in the driving seat - not a transcendent independent aware subjective self. There is no self which thinks, there are just blind chemical processes that do the job for "you". So a materialist discards himself as a seeker for truth and as a person. Box
I am pretty sure that my computer is aware. It acts up any time I am near it. Or maybe that's just Microsoft Windows doing it's thing. Mung
I do not believe that I believe. I wonder if it is any coincidence that the marriage vow is simply "I do." Reminds me of "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." Mung
Ab, kindly tell us who has made the assertion that mere self-awareness is uniquely and solely human? As opposed to, that we exemplify conscious mindedness, so such is possible, and perhaps as well this manifests contemplation that is manifestly categorically distinct from computation. KF kairosfocus
Niw, that was obviously tongue firmly in cheek. Without that primary datum, there is no science etc. KF kairosfocus
Barry, Sorry, your "primordial datum" is non scientific. It cannot be quantified. It is subjective and not detectable by instruments in the lab. Moreover it conflicts with methodological naturalism and rational positivism. In a single word, it is metaphysical. As such it must be discarded a priori by modern science (in a sense it is a "primordial discard"). And, you know, atheist evolutionist science is the unique reference of truth, and all that this science declares unscientific doesn't exist at all, and... end_of_sarcasm niwrad
OT: Mr. Arrington, this rare victory over discrimination in academia, by a law professor who is Christian, may interest you: University Ordered to Pay Over $710,000 for Discriminating Against Christian Professor - June 12, 2014 http://christiannews.net/2014/06/12/university-ordered-to-pay-over-710000-for-discriminating-against-christian-professor/ bornagain77
"I just have a problem with claims that this is unique to humans." Ab, could you expand on this please? humbled
I don't have any problem with the idea of humans being self-aware. I just have a problem with claims that this is unique to humans. Acartia_bogart

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