RE: Consciousness Trilemma
May 29, 2017 at 8:06 pm
(This post was last modified: May 29, 2017 at 8:18 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(May 29, 2017 at 6:03 pm)bennyboy Wrote: I describe consciousness as the awareness of the fact of awareness. In fact, I don't define it as that-- the word is is a label FOR that. I know that I am conscious in this way, because it's the only way in which a person can be said to be conscious.Except that this isn't true. You -can't- be aware, in the present tense, of awareness. What you "know", simply is not, and could not be. Maybe you remember being aware of some moment far enough back in time for all pursuant processing to have occurred and you -call- that past moment the present moment, the moment in which you are currently "aware of being aware"....but? You can't be aware of being aware, even in the barest sense as you're describing it here.....for the simple fact that processing takes time - and it pays to remember that this particular comment was aimed at a..shall we say..fuller(?) description of consciousness?
OTOH, it can certainly -seem- as though you are. It seems that way to me too. It's just that this very awareness is misrepresenting itself. Eliminative materialists aren';t disputing the compelling nature of the experience of awareness as it presents itself to us, that you..personally, "know" this. They doubt that this experience will, or even can map to a discrete mental state. They doubt that what you know from your experience is (or can be) any more accurate (or reliable) with regards to itself than the misrepresentation.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
