Egnor: Our mental life is a composite of abilities — arousal, sensation, perception, locomotion, reason, etc., and these abilities appear to subsist in modified form despite dramatic changes in the body and brain.
Tag: Consciousness
How a Silicon Valley psychologist can believe consciousness doesn’t exist
The problem with Riach’s view is that the final level of complexity is immaterial and the computer is just not going there.
In new book, a psychologist tries to explain consciousness
Mark Solms clearly assumes, in his Psychology Today column, that the mind is just what the brain does. But that’s precisely the claim that the very existence of consciousness clouds.
Does a cosmopsychist believe in life after death?
Bernardo Kastrup: I certainly believe in consciousness after death. I believe that our core subjectivity, that implicit, innate sense of “I”-ness, remains undifferentiated. That’s the reason you still think you are the same person you were when you were five years old even though everything about you has changed.
A classic Darwinian fairy tale: How the human mind jumpstarted itself into existence
Earlier, Frankish explained that Dennett accounts for consciousness as “a temporary level of organisation—a ‘virtual system’—that we create for ourselves through certain learned habits of self-stimulation.” But what are the concepts “we,” “ourselves,” and “self-” even doing in this discussion? If consciousness is an illusion, these concepts are illusions that cannot create anything.
Michael Egnor and Bernardo Kastrup: Why consciousness couldn’t just evolve from the mud
Kastrup, a philosopher and computer scientist, does not accept a Darwinian account of the evolution of consciousness and is is also sympathetic to the basic intuitions behind the idea that there is design in nature (intelligent design theory).
At Inspiring Philosophy: There is no evidence that the brain creates consciousness
In this Part 3, physicalist arguments are debunked.
New vid on the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Inspiring Philosophy: There is no greater problem for materialists and physicalists that trying to explain how the brain could create consciousness. This video argues the hard problem implies the mind cannot reduce to matter.
Consciousness divided ten different ways
MMN: “In particular, Tyler points out that “interrogacy,” the ability to formulate questions, “seems unique to a conscious mind.” Yet, he notes, it has not so far been investigated …”
Does the difference between “I” and “me” shed light on consciousness?
The mystery of consciousness includes our constant awareness of both of these statuses, I and me.
Claim: Plants are conscious!
Expect more crazy. Salad is murder, did you know? That time of year.
Physicalist philosopher: Consciousness Is Not a Problem. Dualism Is!
But wait, say others, the hard problem of consciousness is not so easily dismissed.
Panpsychism hits popular science mags
If consciousness is intrinsic to the nature of the universe, to say that consciousness evolved would be like saying that photons evolved: “The photon has the characteristics it does in order to maximize its chances of survival and passing on its genes.” Um, let’s go back to the top of the page, shall we? …
Michael Egnor: How can we study consciousness scientifically?
Egnor tells us that Tam Hunt offers some good ideas at Scientific American but his dismissal of objectivity is cause for concern.
Kastrup responds to Coyne: No, consciousness CANNOT be just a byproduct
Kastrup, as readers will see, hasn’t a whole lot of patience with Coyne. One can only wonder why. 😉