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The article discusses a professor who hypothesises that consciousness is simply an illusion the brain creates for itself. But you can't explain the concept 'ill
by IsaacL 10y ago
The article discusses a professor who hypothesises that consciousness is simply an illusion the brain creates for itself. But you can't explain the concept 'illusion' without reference to 'consciousness', so this explanation is meaningless.
https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Know-Harry-Binswanger/dp/0985640618 https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Know-Harry-Binswanger/dp/09856...
This is the book I recommend to anyone genuinely interested in the nature of consciousness.
- marxidad 10y agoI don't think Ayn Rand's Objectivism is useful for knowing anything about consciousness.
- warmfuzzykitten 10y agoOr for any other purpose, actually.
- warmfuzzykitten 10y ago"But you can't explain the concept 'illusion' without reference to 'consciousness'" Of course you can. What you see is just a model the brain constructs based on visual input. The brain squares up corners, sees depth in converging lines. You can hardly see at all outside your focus point, but the brain makes you think you do. You have a blind spot in each of your eyes but the brain fills in the spaces based on the surrounding images so you don't notice it. None of these effects are the least bit dependent upon consciousness. It is conceivable that consciousness is just the brain's model of itself, and since the brain can construct these models without the need for consciousness, the argument is not circular.