Back in January I wrote up a post on what I believe to be a major problem in the study of consciousness. Now, with the introduction of Consciousness Online (started by the estimable R. Brown), I feel my dilemma should get some renewed attention. Here’s the argument: Assume someone knows what consciousness/mind is. If someone knows something, then it is part of his or her consciousness. If someone knows what consciousness is, then his or […]
Tag: consciousness
Intentionality is Dead
After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave–a tremendous, gruesome shadow. God is dead: but given the way of men there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.–And we–we still have to vanquish his shadow, too. ~F. N. If want to study the mind, we believed that we needed to understand intentionality: Intentionality is the power of minds to be about, […]
Consciousness Dilemma
I watched Dan Dennett’s Ted Talk “Can We Know Our Own Minds” yesterday and it reminded me of a problem I had with the study of consciousness. I am convinced a solution cannot be written down or said. Assume someone knows what consciousness/mind/divine spark/what-you-will is. If someone knows something, then it is part of their consciousness. If someone knows what consciousness is, then the consciousness has a part that contains consciousness. Therefore someone has a […]