RE: Sound and Nihilism
May 1, 2015 at 11:15 am
(This post was last modified: May 1, 2015 at 11:20 am by Chas.)
(May 1, 2015 at 10:39 am)Jörmungandr Wrote:(April 30, 2015 at 11:54 am)wallym Wrote: Why would you believe it's not there? What possible rationale could you have to expect that this time, believing the laws of the universe, is an issue of 'faith.'
That's like saying "We can't be sure gravity is still going to be a thing tomorrow until tomorrow gets here and we test it out."
I'm not saying I believe it's not there. I'm saying that, at this time, without a model of how meaning works in the brain, the explanation "braindidit" is as empty as "goddidit". You don't actually know how any of this works, so you're putting the cart before the horse, claiming the brain does it without knowing in any sense how it does it. If you have a model, please present it. However all you've given us is a nice sounding metaphor.
We don't have to know the mechanism to see that the evidence all points to an entirely brain-based mind. All the different effects of brain damage, the direct electrical stimulation of the brain, phantom pain, and so on.
Quote:How about an alternative metaphor. Meaning is like an ant colony. No individual ant contains the instructions for building the ant nest, but the interaction of all the mindless ants results in a nest. What if meaning is like that? Something that occurs as a byproduct of meaningless activity, not in the brain, but in the social interactions of many individuals. Is this picture any less credible?
Meaning might be like an ant colony, but it resides in the brain.
Further, not only meaning, but identity, self, consciousness may be a colony of mindless activities in the brain.
Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.
Science is not a subject, but a method.
