Re: MD Self-consciousness

From: abahn@comcast.net
Date: Wed Sep 03 2003 - 13:43:49 BST

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    Scott,

    I had another thought while taking the dog for a morning walk pertaining to:

    "And, again, why is consciousness, self- or otherwise, seen as something that
    needs to be explained, in material terms or otherwise? "

    I might admit that explaining consciousness is hopeless and completely absurd
    (but that doesn't mean we should quit trying) but self-consciousness is another
    beast. Consciousness is a state of being alive. It is at the root of purpose
    in the sense of a system being able to predict future events. For instance, a
    frog notices a fly on a leave in front of it facing to the east. It can predict
    with some probability what direction the fly is going to go next. This ability
    increases its chance for survival. Well, offering a satisfactory explanation
    for this ability, especially by insisting on a reductive one, is almost
    impossible. It is like trying to decide what is life. Where is the line
    EXACTLY separating the inorganic from the biological. We will never know.

    But self-consciousness or I would prefer "reflective consciousness" is a term we
    can use to distinguish humans from all other biological organisms. Explaining
    this then is relatively easy compared to consciousness. What is it that makes
    humans different from other species? Without having to go into the mechanics of
    brain activity, photons and nerve cells and such, we can offer satisfactory
    explanations that help us "cope" in our environment. The one I was offering is
    simply that reflective (self-) consciousness is a property of language. Easy!
    No spatio-temporal universe to worry about. We can use whatever universe you
    wish to propose. We exist and we use language. From our experience we can
    distinguish that humans have some properties other species do not. One of these
    is language and another one of these is self-consciousness. All I did was
    connect the dots.

    Thanks,
    Andy

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