RE: Does Matter Create Consciousness? Or Vice Versa?
December 23, 2013 at 6:23 am
(This post was last modified: December 23, 2013 at 7:15 am by bennyboy.)
People have stated as brute fact that matter precedes mind. But how could this be known? The only way to know that matter exists at all is for someone to experience it, i.e. with their mind. Yes, based on your experiences, you can start drawing inferences. But on the other hand, there is NEVER a point at which any person is aware of any information about things without having a sentient mind.
People point to "evidence," but there's a problem. All this evidence is filtered through experience. So what is it really evidence FOR? Only that certain categories or aspects of human experience are consistent enough to be usefully categorized and manipulated. Is a well-designed bridge, when walked on, a manifest idea or a self-existent structure? It seems obvious that it exists on its own, independent of the person experiencing it. However, there's still that philosophical caveat-- the person is, in fact, interfacing with that "object" through experiences which themselves are not the object. That's why (some) dreams apparently contain objects, despite our knowing when we wake up that those apparently real things were not real except as experiences.
How, if those experiences are aspects of a BIJ, or the Matrix, or the Mind of God, could one know it? How, if those experiences are aspects of a universe independent of the minds experiencing it, could one prove that this is the case, and rule out any of those other possibilities?
People point to "evidence," but there's a problem. All this evidence is filtered through experience. So what is it really evidence FOR? Only that certain categories or aspects of human experience are consistent enough to be usefully categorized and manipulated. Is a well-designed bridge, when walked on, a manifest idea or a self-existent structure? It seems obvious that it exists on its own, independent of the person experiencing it. However, there's still that philosophical caveat-- the person is, in fact, interfacing with that "object" through experiences which themselves are not the object. That's why (some) dreams apparently contain objects, despite our knowing when we wake up that those apparently real things were not real except as experiences.
How, if those experiences are aspects of a BIJ, or the Matrix, or the Mind of God, could one know it? How, if those experiences are aspects of a universe independent of the minds experiencing it, could one prove that this is the case, and rule out any of those other possibilities?
