Proof Mind is Fundamental and Matter Doesn't Exist

[Captain Scarlet]

Benny I am not begging the question. I tend towards that conclusion because there is overwhelming, independent and objective evidence to support that assertion.

This it the mating call of the materialist.  But you are ignoring my main argument: since one hundred percent of "evidence" collected is collected through the agency of mind, there's no such thing as demonstrably objective evidence.

I think it is you who are equivocating. If you are going to follow through on scepticism it seems proper to ask some simple questions. Do you have a mind? How do you know? Its properly basic to say you are conscious, but how do you get from Consciousness (basic awareness) to Mind (structures enabling you to think philosophical thoughts).

What's this stuff about structures enabling thoughts?  You'd better tell me where you get this language from, because to me, it is so obviously couched to beg the question that there's little more to be said about it.  What structures do you mean?  And if you mean brain, then you'd better go on to define thoughts in your terms as well.

I am not quite as ignorant on your main argument as you may think. I know you think it is circular. I do not because for me it is axiomatic that external reality exists and that an emergent quality of that same reality, in us, is our consciousness. Using sense perception through consciousness we can grasp that reality.  So yes to me it is also axiomatic that our senses are valid.  To me to deny reality and our ability to perceive it leads to absurdities and the whim wishing of the primacy of conscioussness.  If your starting assumption is that your mind isn't part of that same external reality and you conclude that the only thing you can validate is your mind, then unsurprisingly you validate the conclusion that external reality may not exist. So we just differ on who begs what.

I think if you have such global level of skepticism, all I am asking is why are you not consistent and question whether your mind exists. We can both agree you are at least conscious. How do you know you are more than just consciousness, ie not just aware but with ability to think and have experiences (somone/something/whatever isn't just projecting all of it on your consciousness).  You have steadfastly refused to answer directly 3 times. Your latest query is on my use of 'structure'.  To be honest I don't care what you want to call it. The word structure is a placeholder for my ignorance of immateriality and what in an immaterial skeptical world would allow you to build from "I am conscious" to "I had that experience/thought and I know I did". If you have a better word for it than 'structure', please use it. If you can define what you mean by an immaterial mind, be my guest. I am asking for how do you know you have a mind? And I have yet to see a response.