4 ms·
If consciousness is a physical thing, how can you be so convinced that it is impossible to talk about it in physical terms? Couldn't the difficulty be due to a
by robertothais 9y ago
If consciousness is a physical thing, how can you be so convinced that it is impossible to talk about it in physical terms? Couldn't the difficulty be due to a deficiency in our current explanatory power, as opposed to something more fundamental? What evidence do you have to support that biological talk (about consciousness, or otherwise) is necessarily irreducible to physical talk?
These questions are very interesting and very hard, and dismissing honest attempts to grapple with them rigorously, wrong as they may turn out to be, seems rash to me.
- blechinger 9y agoI think you're correct that our inability to explain consciousness physically is a deficiency in our explanatory power. I also think it's nothing more than that. At the same time I welcome those who dismiss wrong-headed attempts at grappling these issues out of hand. Why waste the time and energy? The idea that consciousness is a state which matter can inhabit is pretty silly. I can appreciate what the writer is trying to do, however; in the end I don't see much difference between this and "spirit world woo". I do think that it's important to be concise and kind when issuing the dismissal (else it goes poorly received!).