3 ms·
I don't know if a glass of water is conscious or not, nor can I come up with a scientific experience to test such an hypothesis, so I remain agnostic on that qu
by telmo 6y ago
I don't know if a glass of water is conscious or not, nor can I come up with a scientific experience to test such an hypothesis, so I remain agnostic on that question. In fact, I cannot even come up with a scientific experience to test if other people are conscious. I just bet they are, because they are similar to me and I know I am.
My point is simply that "feeling" already assumes consciousness. Maybe everything is conscious. Still, saying "it's just a feeling" explains nothing. Most people assume that glasses of water are not conscious, so I just used that example to illustrate my point. But you make a valid remark.
- prox 6y agoThe perfect example of : dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum ("I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am")
- telmo 6y agoIndeed!
- Der_Einzige 6y agoI hadn't scrolled down this far when I brought up the cogito myself - but I guess great minds think alike. But, I think Descartes is straight up wrong here. He doesn't doubt, he believes that he doubts. Descartes never got away from his evil demon - it simply blinded him. He didn't take radical skepticism far enough and if he did he would realize that the Cogito is not good enough for a proof of ontology! The universe of the evil skepticism demon is as follows: "There is exactly one truth, that there are no other truths". If you hold that axiom, than how can one unironically conclude that the cogito is a neat proof of ontology? Seems like the philosophical equivalent of "wet pavement causes rain"
- prox 6y agoWhat do you offer as the difference between the belief that he doubts and “actual” doubt. For him the doubt seems actual and acute. He doesn’t believe in the doubt, he is experiencing it. (Also Descartes never said doubt, that is a common addition)
- wombatmobile 6y ago> I just bet they are, because they are similar to me and I know I am. You sound certain! Is that because of some logical deductive series that you can articulate, or is it because of a very strong feeling you have? I'm curious to understand what you are saying, because I don't feel the same way myself, at least not all the time.
- andybak 6y ago> because I don't feel the same way myself, at least not all the time. Depending on how you are interepting the other commenter's use of the word "similar" you might be trying to say either: a) I don't think other people are conscious (a fairly exceptional claim) or b) I don't think other people are that similar to me (a fairly unremarkable claim)
- Calamity 6y agoSolipsism fitting into camp a)? I always wondered: If you believe in only "One" - one consciousness, one unity - does that de facto make you a solipsist?