RE: Mind is the brain?
March 15, 2016 at 11:47 am
(This post was last modified: March 15, 2016 at 11:50 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(March 14, 2016 at 11:37 pm)bennyboy Wrote:(March 14, 2016 at 3:12 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Too special to be material, and too special to be anything other than unique to gear you possess if it happens to be material. I agree here, sort of...it's far too special.
No, not necessarily too special to be material. The brain has many layers of function, from the most elemental (the passage of photons an electrons among atoms for example), to the chemical cascades in neurons, to nerve bundles, to the coordination of brain parts involving sound and sight, complex processing, accessing of memories, etc.
Now, you can say that mind is brain function-- but unless you know exactly what it is about the brain that allows us to experience the "what it's like," there are some serious philosophical questions-- and that's EVEN IF I accept a physical monist position.
For example, does an atom have a primitive awareness of "what it's like" to receive a photon? Does a single nerve have an awareness of "what it's like" to be triggered by activity at the dendrites? Or is there a critical mass of complexity where there's any "what it's like" at all-- say, at least an input, a processor, and an output? In the first case, there is literally mind everywhere in the universe, and it is no less intrinsic to material than any other physical property. In the latter, it may be that you need something VERY similar to the human brain to have any awareness at all.
So waving at the brain and saying "It's clearly in there somewhere" won't really resolve the question of mind/matter, at least not in a very useful way. It's more an ontology than a conclusion.
There are those layers of rationalization I mentioned, surrounding your need for mind to be special.
Single atoms are not expected to have an awareness in a materialist explanation, and they do not present any evidence of awareness. Things -may- need to be similar to our own brain to have an awareness, in a materialist explanation...that -is- expected. That doesn't mean they need to be human, brains, or even biological.
Speaking of similarities....since -no- material monist explanation says "it's in there, somewhere"....this one is just like your "can't account for or discuss" nonsense, and you know better.
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