I will be citing this online translation: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Phil_100/Plato_files/310585462-Plato-Phaedo.pdf — Fooloso4
We soon learn that Plato was not with Socrates on his final day. He was sick. (59b)... What would have been so serious as to keep him away?...But for now we should note that Plato is twice removed...Here it is his absence rather than his presence that he draws our attention to. — Fooloso4
Really ?Socrates is doing something he has never done before, writing — Fooloso4
I've just been discussing dreams elsewhere in the forum - the fact that strange figures flit in and out and we can have weird conversations with them. Again, I once talked about dreams as a source of inspiration which led to real life problems being solved. Dreams are a bit of a mystery.the same dream had visited me, now in one guise, now in another, but always saying the same thing: — Fooloso4
the dream was telling me to do the very thing that I was doing, to make music, since philosophy is the greatest music. (61a) — Fooloso4
I reflected that a poet should, if he were really going to be a poet, make stories rather than arguments, and being no teller of tales myself, I therefore used some I had ready to hand …(61b) — Fooloso4
But here he tells a story about a dream from his past life. That it is just a story will become clear. — Fooloso4
What we will hear are not simply arguments but stories. — Fooloso4
Both ?a comedy or tragedy — Fooloso4
Phaedo says that he was not overcome by pity and that Socrates seemed happy (58e) Phaedo reports feeling an unusual blend of pleasure and pain. (59a). As we shall see, opposites will play an important part in Socrates’ stories. — Fooloso4
I wasn't commenting on the content of what Daemon said. — T Clark
I understood that albeit in a roundabout way.I used it as a positive example of why it is important for us to make sure people understand the meaning of the words we use. — T Clark
It was clear to you because he gave the definition, which was my point. — T Clark
I wouldn't have been able to figure out what you meant from context. I think that is true of most people on the forum and in the world in general. — T Clark
John Searle says that, like many other terms, consciousness is best defined ostensively, that is, by pointing to examples. — Daemon
I'm reasonably well-read but I had never heard the word used in that way. I wouldn't have been able to figure out what you meant from context. I think that is true of most people on the forum and in the world in general. — T Clark
one definition could be that it's polysemous in nature. Meaning (pardon the pun), because not only do we have the phenomena associated with the conscious, subconscious and the unconscious mind (all working together in an illogical mix), we have philosophical ambiguities connected with an individual's perception of truth (Subjectivity). Different people experience the same text, and come away with different statements of fact about that text’s meaning. — 3017amen
From: https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/532484I tried to pick the definitions I think are relevant to the kinds of discussions we have on the forum. It would be nice if the people starting those discussions would be clear about these kinds of issues. That's not likely to happen. I mostly started this post to clarify in my own mind what I mean when I use these words. — T Clark
I at least want to come up with a meaning that applies to the "hard problem of consciousness" people talk about.
— T Clark
Are you familiar with the original paper, which is here http://consc.net/papers/facing.html
Perhaps it might be useful to talk in terms of what you do or don't agree with or understand about this paper, as that is the one that defined the problem. — Wayfarer
I must admit I'm not much interested in the experience of consciousness from a scientific or philosophical perspective. It doesn't seem that important to me. For me, consciousness is a behavior. We know it the way we know other human and animal behaviors - by observing it, including what the person says about it when that is available. There really is only one experience of consciousness in my universe - mine.
Yes, yes. of course I believe other people experience it too, but that's because I've observed their behavior. This list from Chalmers identifies at least some of the behaviors related to consciousness that we can observe. He acknowledges that. — T Clark
I do not move by arguments ... arguments are futile friend ... — Anand-Haqq
Mind is a social by-product. And unless this mind dissolves, you cannot go within; you cannot know what is really your nature, what is authentically your existence, your consciousness. — Anand-Haqq
Mind, as such, is the disturbance, the disease — Anand-Haqq
You are two persons simultaneously. How can you have the same face for your servant? Your one eye has a certain quality, a certain look. Your other eye has a different quality, a different look — Anand-Haqq
Remember well that you don't have one mind; you have multi-minds. Forget the concept that everyone has one mind. You don't have, you have many minds: a crowd, a multiplicity; you are poly-psychic. In the morning you have one mind, in the afternoon a different mind and in the evening still a different mind. Every single moment you have a different mind. — Anand-Haqq
We go on saying, insisting, 'My mind. I think this way. This is my thought. This is my ideology.' Because of this identification with the mind, you miss that which you really are. — Anand-Haqq
Dissolve these links with the mind. Remember that your minds are not your own. They have been given to you by others: your parents, your society, your university. They have been given to you. Throw them away. Remain with the simple consciousness that you are ¯ pure consciousness, innocent. This is how one moves from the mind to meditation. This is how one moves away from society, from the without to the within. This is how one moves from the man-made world, the maya, to the universal truth, the existence. — Anand-Haqq
I’m kind of an advocate for apathy. Within reasonable limits I find it useful for living a happy life. I try not to care about things that don’t involve me directly, or that I’m powerless to change. At least I try to not care that much. — Pinprick
It’s easier to do what you truly want, and say what you truly feel when you don’t care about possibly being ridiculed, or offending someone, etc — Pinprick
Who the fuck are those people? =] — Shawn
It's fascinating to me to witness other people as if with a separate mind in a dream. What do you think? — Shawn
I think you have to state your own working definition, in the specific context.
— Daemon
That makes complete sense to me. — Amity
I am not sure very much is understood about how cognition functions, so I'll leave that to somebody with a larger imagination than mine. — synthesis
(Can't help it :wink: — 180 Proof
[Apathy]...the result of subtle forms of spiritual oppression that someone has endured for a long period of time. And yes, in some cases this can result in tremendous pain. — Adam Hilstad
I felt I was being told that the meaning or purpose of my life was invalid, or even wrong in some way. This led to feelings of invisibility, helplessness and isolation. — Adam Hilstad
That makes complete sense to me.I think you have to state your own working definition, in the specific context. — Daemon
John Searle says that, like many other terms, consciousness is best defined ostensively, that is, by pointing to examples. — Daemon
in order to know whether you have come up with a correct definition, you must already know what the term means. — Daemon
I am not sure I understand the process of how experiences are 'reified through the brain's hardware'.
Help me out here ? — Amity
I have been very struck by this recent video lecture by Mark Solms, who is both a neuroscientist and a psychiatrist: https://youtu.be/CmuYrnOVmfk — Daemon
I have worked in the area of mental health and addictions for 30 years. Apathy/anhedonia and social withdrawal are classic negative symptoms associated with the condition. Among the classic positive symptoms are auditory hallucinations, movement disorders, disorganised behaviour. — Tom Storm
There are a multiplicity of reasons for apathy to take hold of someone - too many choices; not enough choices; trauma; substance misuse; chronic physical illness; mental ill health; excessive rumination; decadence; hopelessness. It can often be an understandable response to experience. — Tom Storm
I imagine we sometimes use the word apathy to describe someone who doesn't share our enthusiasms. — Tom Storm
I suspect that apathy is usually if not always the result of subtle forms of spiritual oppression that someone has endured for a long period of time. And yes, in some cases this can result in tremendous pain. — Adam Hilstad
Who told you this and why ? What kind of pain ?I've been told recently that apathy arises from too much pain. — Shawn
Quite right too. Apathy is independent of depression and v.v.Before anyone points out that the truth lays with rather depression, I don't really buy into that. — Shawn
Yes, it does. But are you too 'lazy' or 'apathetic' to actually go and find some definitions and meanings over and above your opinions ? :chin:Apathy also sounds distinct from being 'lazy'. — Shawn
Why are you having a hard time ? Isn't it easy enough to google, as others have done ?I'm having a hard time pointing out what apathy may be about; anyone care to elucidate? — Shawn
How so ?I've had some premonition that apathy is expressed due to too much rationality. — Shawn
Schizophrenia ?Apathy might be that place people go between delusions. — synthesis
Depression ? They can't see how to go on...overwhelmed by the world...their circumstances...Eventually, reality catches up with folks and they realize that their path hit a dead-end. This throws them into the abyss for awhile until they climb their way out and seek out their next path. If their new path is good for them, apathy disappears. — synthesis
OK - is that because you haven't experienced or recognised it in yourself or others.I’m kinda skeptical that apathy exists in practice. — TheHedoMinimalist
The mind has the extraordinary capacity to encapsulate the totality of the world in a realistic manner.
Namely, the mind can encapsulate the sum total of what space 'feels' like, what sound, 'sounds' like (ever hear music in a dream as if played on a device; but, in a dream), and what food 'tastes' like. — Shawn
Yet, these, feelings, sounds, and tastes are not entirely qualia. They are actual experiences, reified through the brain's hardware into a phenomenological experience — Shawn
What an intriguing way to describe 'dreaming'.It is intriguing that when one experiences these amalgamates of past experiences that is what one would call a 'qualia'. — Shawn
Everything in a dream is qualitative in manner to be more clear, with the observer or subject further experiences these qualia... — Shawn
I wouldn't consider that an experience on top of another experience; it's just part of the dream experience. There is something it is like to have a dream, just as there is something it is like to listen to Mozart in reality. This is the distinction I would draw between the two qualia or qualitative experiences. — Luke
Yes, dreams have a phenomenological, qualitative aspect (in my experience). — Luke
The Beatles' Anthology documentary several years later consummated my "Beatle George" renaissance and deep appreciation of him as a musician, a spiritual seeker, an old "grotty" wit, and a quite admirable person (certainly as global celebrities go). — 180 Proof
The first Traveling Wilbury's hit single "Handle Me With Care" almost two decades later for me began a complete reassessment of George and his elemental role in the musical alchemy of The Beatles — 180 Proof
Can't speak for George Son of Hari :pray: :flower:, but I can't help smiling whenever I see & hear this Bad Lil Mofo blaaaaze that solo :fire: — 180 Proof
It seems to me that the meaning of ‘conscious’ or ‘consciousness’ originally referred to the qualitative idea or faculty of awareness. — Possibility
Although the words “conscious” and “conscience” are used quite differently today, it is likely that the Reformation emphasis on the latter as an inner source of truth played some role in the inward turn so characteristic of the modern reflective view of self. The Hamlet who walked the stage in 1600 already saw his world and self with profoundly modern eyes. — SEP article by Robert Van Gulick
The Descriptive Question: What is consciousness? What are its principal features? And by what means can they be best discovered, described and modeled?
The Explanatory Question: How does consciousness of the relevant sort come to exist? Is it a primitive aspect of reality, and if not how does (or could) consciousness in the relevant respect arise from or be caused by nonconscious entities or processes?
The Functional Question: Why does consciousness of the relevant sort exist? Does it have a function, and if so what is it? Does it act causally and if so with what sorts of effects? Does it make a difference to the operation of systems in which it is present, and if so why and how?
The three questions focus respectively on describing the features of consciousness, explaining its underlying basis or cause, and explicating its role or value. The divisions among the three are of course somewhat artificial, and in practice the answers one gives to each will depend in part on what one says about the others. — As above
A comprehensive descriptive account of consciousness would need to deal with more than just these seven features, but having a clear account of each of them would take us a long way toward answering the “What is consciousness?” question. — As above
The example from first aid shows that consciousness is something we see in others. I think it inherently interactive - mutual. — Banno
So I'll make a different contribution, perhaps as partial recompense, by referring to https://www.etymonline.com/
c. 1600, "knowing, privy to" (poetic), from Latin conscius "knowing, aware," from conscire "be (mutually) aware," from assimilated form of com "with," or "thoroughly" (see con-) + scire "to know" (see science). The Latin word probably is a loan-translation of Greek syneidos.
"to know with". — Banno