Proof Mind is Fundamental and Matter Doesn't Exist

[Captain Scarlet]

But I think this can be delivered back to the door of Idealism with interest:

- the often repeated mantra on this thread is "we can doubt matter, but we cannot doubt mind".  This simply begs the question by assuming that the mind is not matter from the outset. 

No, those competing ideas are not peers, like opposite sides of a coin.  The knowledge of mind supercedes all other knowledge-- I think therefore I am, and all that.  So I know for sure there IS mind-- I just don't know exactly what it is or where it comes from.  No assumptions about substance or source are required at all.

- there is a epistemic and ontological confusion.  To state: "I am certain I have a mind, but not certain of existents outside of my mind" is an epistemic problem not an ontoligical one, ie it does nothing to say I know what my mind is made of because I cannot be certain object x exists.  It is perfectly consistent to say "I am certain I have a mind, but not certain of existents outside of my mind, but my mind is an emergent property of brain structures".  

You had me until that last sentence, which is clearly a non sequitur.  At best you can say, in my experience, it seems that my mind is an emergent property of brain structures, with emphasis on "seems."

I think both of these problems too often confuse the issue, as the next step is to then leap to mind is fundamental and matter is not.

No, those first steps aren't fait accompli, and you don't get to proceed to the next steps.

Using the same faulty reasoning we could argue (and we do not) thus:

1. If god exists then he is fundamental
2. I can doubt the existence of god
3. If I can doubt the existence of god, then he cannot be fundamental
C. God does not exist.

I haven't made this reasoning about mind, nor asserted the things you are asserting.  Are you responding to the OP maybe?

Idealist mantras (and that was my point) do beg the question when the seek to conclude mind as fundamental, by starting with assertions about mind and matter being different. We can say there is something true about mind but not about the rest of reality if we like. But that says nothing about whether mind is matter.  

With skepticism a your starting point, I am interested to know how you get to being unable to doubt the existence of mind (your own mind). Consciousness I can get, because you cannot doubt your existence or awareness. But how do you get from consciousness to structures enabling thought and mind. Surely you can doubt thinking as well. What if a being was running his thought software on your consciousness operating system?, What if a being was merely projecting their thoughts onto your consciousness? In other words why stop at mind?

I said "consistent to say" not "therefore I can conclude". Therefore I do not not think there that statement was a non sequitur.

Granted I know you haven't made such an assertion. Apologies if I made it appear as if you had. Just a general moan against Idealist thought.