I think the concept of dualism arose quite naturally through observation. Personally, I am a fan of it, of the essential message it transposes: One can not be without the other.Even so, I do not think that this is sufficient to explain why we developed dualism in the first place. — Brock Harding
Though I do think it's perfectly reasonable that consciousness may "just" be an expression of electrical currents darting through our brain. — Hermeticus
We do not experience the light meeting our retina, travelling to our optic nerve as an electrical signal and into the brain structure and IT cortex where 16 million neurons activate in different patterns and register seeing a dog. — Brock Harding
Yes. Consciousness is not a magic trick, but it is imaginary. Everything we are aware of is an image (or meaning) created by the Brain to represent the reality "out there". According to Daniel Dennett, those "unreal" pictures are projected onto the Cartesian Theater screen. And that mental mirror of the world is what I call "Ideality".I believe that nowadays, with the benefit of modern science and an understanding that the source ancient ‘thinking’ that led to dualism was relatively uninformed, we can dispense with the illusion of consciousness, or the mind, and shift our perspective away from these imagined ethereal forms. — Brock Harding
A curious question is, supposing consciousness comes first, how exactly does it tie into this? Are the cells what is conscious and does that mean we originally consisted of two consciousness that became one? Or is the very process our consciousness, making us, so to say, our parents sexual desire? — Hermeticus
According to Daniel Dennett, those "unreal" pictures are projected onto the Cartesian Theater screen. — Gnomon
Don't pay attention to rumors! :grin:You may have heard of the concept that consciousness, or the mind, is merely an ‘illusion’. — Brock Harding
Yes. He was trying to show a materialistic alternative to dualism. But he merely succeeded in kicking the immaterial can down the road. :smile:Iirc Dennett's description here is meant to be disparaging. Good post though, I enjoyed it a lot. — Kenosha Kid
Oh, come on, if consciousness, thinking, etc. were an illusion, then this discussion would be also an illusion! — Alkis Piskas
We may think we are 'reading posts' but we do not experience the stream of 1's and 0's that constitutes the data. — Cuthbert
Thinking is not an illusion, the concept that you need a non-physical entity to think is. — Brock Harding
Our experience of our bodies, our sentience and its presence in our environment is a complex biological, electrical and chemical process. — Brock Harding
since something can't be borne by its very own self — god must be atheist
Wood is created by trees, therefore trees cannot be made of wood, because they cannot give birth to themselves. Is there a flaw in this logic? — pfirefry
No. In such a case this discussion would just have not taken place. Have you ever seen in movies any two zombies discussing? :grin:Are you saying that if we were all merely the fabled philosophical zombies, then this discussion would be an illusion? — bongo fury
Self-reproduction at some point was the standard. — Hermeticus
I didn't get that. Something missing?the concept that you need a non-physical entity to think is — Brock Harding
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