(April 5, 2015 at 6:56 am)Rhythm Wrote: In that it emerges as a consequence of the system which is pointed to as an explanation for a wide range of observed behaviors. "If it's something like 1" answers that question. We are conscious because what we refer to -as consciousness- is the operation of a system which is capable of producing the effect, which we possess..and which is active. When it cannot, when we do not, or when it is not..we are not, or cannot observe those behaviors upon which we make the determination in the first place...and do not possess those abilities which the system does not appear to be capable of (like reading minds or levitating objects). It's not a "why" issue, from that standpoint..it's a "what".
"Why?" is answered almost immediately by -because we can be-. Whatever other reason there may be (if there is another) this will remain equally true.
I'm really sorry but you've lost me here. What you are saying sounds very much like what C. S. Lewis argues in "Miracles" against the 'naturalist' position. Something along the lines of it being a circular argument. I had to give up on that book because I couldn't wrap my head around the logic he was using as the basis for his argument. I'm no good at the finer points of logic as I'm sure you're aware
