Category: Mind
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Popular ‘Phlegm Theories’ of Consciousness
Michael Graziano demolishes several of them and then proposes his own which consists of hand-waving and promissory notes and is no better than the ones he dismisses. See if you don't agree.
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More Bad Philosophy of Mind by a Scientist
Christof Koch: I was raised to believe in God, the Trinity, and particularly the Resurrection. Unfortunately, I now know four words: “No brain, never mind.” That’s bad news. Once my brain dies, unless I can somehow upload it into the Cloud, I die with it. I wish it were otherwise, but I’m not going to…
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Do We Have Immaterial Souls?
Richard Swinburne versus Luke Janssen.
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Eyes in the Mirror
The eyes you see in the mirror when you look at yourself are not seeing eyes, but seen eyes. It is strange but true: your seeing eyes are and must remain invisible.
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Brain and Space
Searching the brain to find the mind is like searching outer space to find God.
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The Problem of Consciousness and Galen Strawson’s Non-Solution
The problem can be set forth in a nice neat way as an aporetic triad: 1) Consciousness is real; it is not an illusion. 2) Consciousness is wholly natural, a material process in the brain. 3) It is impossible that conscious states, whether object-directed or merely qualitative, be material in nature. It is easy to…
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Philosophy From the Twilight Zone: “The Lonely”
Rod Serling's Twilight Zone was an outstanding TV series that ran from 1959-1964. The episode "The Lonely" aired in November, 1959. I have seen it several times, thanks to the semi-annual Sci Fi channel TZ marathons. There is one in progress as I write. One can extract quite a bit of philosophical juice from "The Lonely" as from most…
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Mary Neal’s Out-of-Body Experiences: Do They Prove Anything?
A repost from 16 December 2012 with minor edits. ……………………………………….. The personable Dr. Neal recounts her experiences during this 13 and a half minute video clip. The following from an interview with her: The easy explanations—dreams or hallucinations—I could discount quickly, because my experience—and the experience described by anyone who's had a near death experience or other experiences that…
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The Spook Stuff Chronicles: Danny Dennett Meets Caspar the Friendly Ghost
This old entry, which had been languishing in the old Powerblogs archive, still strikes me as making some important and plausible points. Here it is again, spruced up and supplemented. ………………… There are philosophers who seem to think that doctrines held by great philosophers and outstanding contemporaries don't need to be studied and refuted but can…
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Of Death and Detachment
St. Alphonsus Liguori, Preparation for Death, p. 11: My Lord, since Thou hast given me light to know that what the world esteems is all mere vapour and folly, give me strength to detach myself from it before death detaches me. I find it very interesting that 'detach' is being used in two very different…
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Strawson’s Vacuous Materialism
Jacques and Malcolm are currently fired up and doing battle over qualia. To stoke the fire further, here is post from a couple of years ago, from 15 September 2015, to be exact. It strikes me as beautifully written, rigorous, and true. (Surprise!) ………………. In Does Matter Think? I wrote: . . . I don't dogmatically claim…
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The Existence of Consciousness: An Aporetic Tetrad
I tend to the view that all philosophical problems can be represented as aporetic polyads. What's more, I maintain that philosophical problems ought to be so represented. You haven't begun to philosophize until you have a well-defined puzzle, a putative inconsistency of plausibilities. When you have an aporetic polyad on the table you have something to think…
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Papineau versus Dennett
Some correspondence introduced by Tim Crane. Related: Nagel on Dennett: Is Consciousness an Illusion? Consciousness is an Illusion, but Truth is Not?
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A Neurosurgeon on the Immateriality of Thought
Michael Egnor, A Map of the Soul. Not philosophically sophisticated, but worth a look.