Can Consciousness Best Be Explained by God's Existence?

[Foxaèr]

Consciousness has got to be the most overrated concept ever.

I feel the same in relation to the concept of love.

[Alex K]

Consciousness has got to be the most overrated concept ever.

I feel the same in relation to the concept of love.

Yeah, the invention of romantic love by 19th century writers has got to be the most insidious intellectual feat, with millions of casualties

[Mudhammam]

You can argue that consciousness is best explained by God's existence...

If you're the type of person who believes in Adam, Eve, and the talking snake, Noah's Ark, and all the other bullshit that lacks a shred of scientific, historical, or logical credibility.

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Consciousness has got to be the most overrated concept ever. It is uttered, and as if it were the most obvious thing since the insight that water is wet, we nod and agree what deep mystery it is.

Let me ask you something: we all use this word - how do we know what is meant by it? It's not like it can be pointed to, or explained by comparison.

It seems like consciousness is the ONE thing we can be sure of--namely, our own. And overrated?? I have no idea what that could possibly mean.

[xr34p3rx]

This is an enlightening and a very respectful debate which covers many of the philosophical explanations for consciousness. In it, the debater that starts to speak first is Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, a Muslim convert, who gives a scrupulous run down of the naturalistic explanations for consciousness and, ultimately, why they all fail. Then he presents an alternative argument, which is a theistic explanation. The other debater, Professor Peter Simons (who is an atheist and a philosopher), said that he agrees with everything his opponent said regarding the subject except for his conclusion, i.e. the idea that a greater sentient being is necessary in order for consciousness to exist. But whether you yourself believe in God or not, the various explanations presented are worth pondering on as they shed light on the mystery of consciousness from several fields of study, e.g. from a biological, theological, and a philosophical perspective, and how some of the explanations even complement each other.

to find an effects cause you must discover and prove the cause first before coming to a conclusion. religious people do that all the time, they don't question and are gullible. so for now the answer is no

[Neo-Scholastic]

I agree with what Rasetsu said, except that I'd go further (probably too far) and add that explaining anything by way of something itself unexplainable just won't work. I mean it really isn't an explanation at all. Unless you start with knowledge of gods -which I certainly don't have- they can't very well shed any light on anything.

I've always felt -from my atheist point of view- that to say that god is the cause of anything is tantamount to admitting the problem is beyond you. "God only knows." An explanation should provide a footing for something not yet understood in that with which we are more familiar. 'God' is too controversial to provide that foundation.

I disagree. Because the role of God is fundamental not secondary.

[Mudhammam]

I agree with what Rasetsu said, except that I'd go further (probably too far) and add that explaining anything by way of something itself unexplainable just won't work. I mean it really isn't an explanation at all. Unless you start with knowledge of gods -which I certainly don't have- they can't very well shed any light on anything.

I've always felt -from my atheist point of view- that to say that god is the cause of anything is tantamount to admitting the problem is beyond you. "God only knows." An explanation should provide a footing for something not yet understood in that with which we are more familiar. 'God' is too controversial to provide that foundation.

I disagree. Because the role of God is fundamental not secondary.

When one gets the same result postulating that "magic is fundamental" in place of "God is fundamental," it becomes clear that A) the statement is meaningless and B) it (magic or God in this case) tells us nothing about what is supposedly fundamental.

[Neo-Scholastic]

I disagree. Because the role of God is fundamental not secondary.

When one gets the same result postulating that "magic is fundamental" in place of "God is fundamental," it becomes clear that A) the statement is meaningless and B) it (magic or God in this case) tells us nothing about what is supposedly fundamental.

Or energy or quantum foam...we already accept many things as fundamental. The objections are like saying energy doesn't explain anything.

[Esquilax]

Or energy or quantum foam...we already accept many things as fundamental. The objections are like saying energy doesn't explain anything.

We have evidence that energy exists...

[Ryantology]

There are many, many different qualifications that any God lacks which make it an insufficient explanation for anything.

What are some of those qualifications exactly?

God cannot be measured, observed, or scrutinized. Even if we were to dismiss empirical methods, God can't even be interviewed (nor would he be likely to cooperate, otherwise we would know already). God's effects cannot be compared relative to anything God might explain. Even if God actually was the initial source of consciousness, it still wouldn't explain the nature of consciousness. You'd simply be giving up one concept you can't explain for another concept you can't explain. No useful knowledge would be obtained. It puts us absolutely no closer to accomplishing the goal of explaining what it is and how it works.

God has all the explanatory power of a shrug of the shoulders.

[Rampant.A.I.]

Consciousness has got to be the most overrated concept ever. It is uttered, and as if it were the most obvious thing since the insight that water is wet, we nod and agree what deep mystery it is.

Let me ask you something: we all use this word - how do we know what is meant by it? It's not like it can be pointed to, or explained by comparison.

I was serious about special snowflake syndrome. I don't think our particular form of consciousness is all that highly adapted or suited to survival.

If anything, we seem to be really good at wasting time, wondering why we're here, thinking about the hardships of life, making up stories to make ourselves feel better, and offing ourselves when we feel down.