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Chris OConnor 
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 Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject: Ch. 14: Mind Speculations
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Ch. 14: Mind Speculations
Please use this thread for discussing Ch. 14: Mind Speculations.  |
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DWill
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject:
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What Burton has to say in this chapter feels like quite a revelation, to me anyway. He's at the point in his argument where he can take a few of the oldest, toughest problems in philosophy or science and tell us, more or less, that they never can be solved. We cannot escape from limitations imposed by the very structure of our brains. We do not know if the dilemmas themselves are nothing but a reflection of our own brain physiology.
Concerning the origin and nature of the cosmos, he says, "Hypotheses ranging from a grand creator to intelligent design to a no-boundary universe are the inevitable result of believing in answers even when the questions themselves reflect nothing more than quirks of brain physiology."
The mind/body or dualism question arises from the necessity for our
selves to feel as though they are independent from our brains/bodies. It is highly probable, he states, that our brain indeed creates this sense of a self, but we simply don't feel it that way. We could not even have a self unless we experienced a separation from our bodies.
"Trapped within our biology, we cannot escape the mind/body dualism"--that is, the feeling of it.
About free will, he thinks that whether it exists or not depends on what exactly choice looks like as a brain function. "What are the brain control mechanisms that determine when the feeling [of choice] is present along with a cognitive choice?" If our unconscious mind makes choices for us sometimes, and if the free will concept depends on our conscious ability to make choices, "then your unconscious will have made a choice that you don't consider a choice."
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JulianTheApostate
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| Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:59 am Post subject:
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This chapter was well written and well thought out. Burton's worldview, is presented in the chapter, was rather similar to my own.
While the mind physically consists of a bunch of meat, that's not how people view themselves when they go about their daily lives. The human mind has many inherent limitations, and it's model of the world is intrinsically oversimplified and distorted. That oversimplification and distortion applies just as strongly to people's perception of their own mental processes.
FYI, I hadn't heard about pain in the left arm indicating a heart attack. Is that general knowledge? |
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