Questions tagged [consciousness]
Consciousness, and related notions like sentience and self-awareness, denote the capacity of certain organisms to express recognition of their own presence in the world.
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How can brain know about consciousness if it can't be observed outside ourselves?
Consciousness is subjective.
We can't observe consciousness outside ourselves.
I can't say whether another person is conscious or not, I just assume they are because they are similar to me.
Likewise, ...
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Concurrent consciousness, identical or similar brains, & localising of consciousness/identity & the present
How is identity localised in time
If we assume a "block universe" model, who is to say where "the present" is in the universe other than where I am now?
If "consciousness&...
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Does determinism prevent rationality?
If hard determinism is true, and our thoughts are merely the results of a causal chain of atomic interactions, are reason and logic illusory?
This matter has likely been discussed in another thread, ...
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What are the strong and contemporary philosophical arguments for believing in other minds? [duplicate]
What are the historically most cited and used arguments that philosophers have made for believing that other people have individual minds and feelings contrary to the assertions of solipsists?
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What does Integrated information theory tell us about non-biological consciousness? [closed]
What does IIT have to say about consciousness in rocks, stars or atoms?
Thank you!
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Is it the job of physics to explain consciousness? [closed]
Is explaining consciousness in the realm of physics?
Detailed question:
We know that consciousness exists. Or rather, I know that I have it. The rest of you may not be conscious, but I know that I am, ...
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Why did Schopenhauer think Will is the inner nature of things instead of just consciousness or experience?
Will, or volition seems as a quite complex process. But Schopenhauer claims it is the foundation of all things in the world, including rocks, electrons or photons. That seems quite implausible.
There ...
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Are physicalists at all in agreement what happens to conciousness if the rate of time is changed?
For the sake of ease of imagination, maybe it's good to use a Machian defintion of time, time is the relative configuration of all physical bodies+fields. I also want to be agnostic about the flow of ...
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Is this how the static block universe, arrow of time, and conscious experience hang together?
In the static block universe we posit a view-from-nowhere perspective.
When taking such a vantage, the thermodynamic arrow of time does not establish a preferred ontological direction of time. There ...
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Critique of those missing the Hard Problem?
From everything Ive ever seen about the “Hard Problem of Consciousness”, the issue is that materialists and physicalists presume a different question and answer that one instead.
I feel like the two ...
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What is the philosophical term for when a property is emergent from an underlying structure?
There is a term that refers to this, which I can't find anywhere, but I remember it from studies of consciousness and the brain.
For example, "consciousness is ____ on the physical brain".
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Is anybody aware of studies that have proved objective ethics?
I recently watched a lecture from linguist Noam Chomsky, in which he alluded to studies that may or may not be coming closer to revealing the objectivity of ethics. A search for such studies has not ...
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Are levels of intelligence different levels of consciousness?
I just want to clarify that I do NOT think I have a more gifted mind than average. Not at all. However, I am very existential and often wonder about the nature of basic things.
Anyway, one of my ...
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Emergent consciousness
Thought experiment on emergent consciousness from physical object - brain:
Imagine we record all neural firings of human brain within 5 seconds interval. Now, if we replace each neuron with a single ...
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What does Spinoza mean by Acquiescentia in se ipso?
In Part V of Spinoza’s Ethics the pinnacle of human freedom and understanding is discussed as the viewpoint from eternal blessedness. How are we to characterize or interpret this doctrine of ...
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Really confused regarding being reborn
I posted this the other day however, nobody has really explained. I want to dismiss the notion of a soul/spirit, and i believe when I die, my memories/personality/experiences will die with me.
However ...
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Irrational fear of reincarnation. Please help [closed]
I’ve been having these irrational thoughts regarding reincarnation. I’m worried that after death, I will be reborn as a prey animal, farm animal or a new human with a shitty existence. I would have no ...
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Would quantum uncertainty in neurons mean free will or just random will?
Famed physicist Penrose has an interesting albeit speculative theory that tiny structures in the Neuron facilitate conciousness beyond the way we currently think neurons work.
Whether he's right or ...
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Is a physical process identical to an algorithm computing it?
I have read three questions about algorithms and their relation to the human brain.
Two recent ones:
Question on Godel's Remark on Algorithmic Nature of Mind
and:
Why doesn't Searle's ...
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Where is it that I go when I dream?
This is a question that I had posed regarding the nature of mental images described by patients who suffer from Charles Bonnet Syndrome here:
What is the nature of the mental images that are perceived ...
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What are some refutations of Husserl’s anti-psychologism?
Husserl argues that psychologism fails through its inability to distinguish between objects of knowledge and acts of knowing, the act being a temporal and psychical process characterized by ...
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What are the "Acts" Discussed in Husserl's "Logical Investigations"?
I am reading Dan Zahavi's Husserl's Phenomenology with a specific focus on his treatment of Logical Investigations. He describes Logical Investigations as "providing a new foundation for pure ...
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How does Kant treat the sublime in the Anthropology compared with the Third Critique?
Is Kant treating the sublime consistently in the third critique and Anthropology? In other words, what are the differences being addressed in these empirical and transcendental inquires regarding the ...
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What does Hume's Fork teach us about pattern recognition?
I could be wrong but I think that pattern recognition means mastering mental schema to predict the future.
Hume's fork is a brand new concept that I learned about and offers an interesting perspective ...
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Is there an established definition of "consciousness"?
Does it even make sense to attempt to define the concept, as it would arguably require to take a view point "outside of it"?
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What is the name of the philosophical problem of consciousness?
I have heard several people discuss "The Philosophical Problem of Consciousness". I'm trying to put a label on the philosophical discussions(s) on this topic.
One example:
The ultimate ...
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Are pursuing the well-being and reducing the suffering of sentient beings objectively good things?
I think most people intuitively agree that increasing their own well-being and minimizing their own suffering are the right things to do. Everyone wants to be happy, enjoy a good health, etc. The ...
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What's the importance of self-awareness?
Philosophers such as Singer emphasize self-awareness as essential to consciousness and somehow related to an individual's moral value.
These perspectives don't make a lot of sense to me.
Self-...
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Is there a difference in philosophy between the term self-consciousness and self-awareness?
I have seen the terms self-aware and self-conscious being used interchangeably in discussions of what distinguishes a person from a conscious animal. Is there a difference of meaning between them?
I ...
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Would Singer believe a person needs to be self-conscious or just conscious? What even is the difference?
In philosophy class, we were given a revision guide that listed philosophers for and against a list of viewpoints. Peter Singer was listed as "for" for the claim that "Consciousness is ...
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Is there anything called as ‘infinite consciousness’?
We understand what is meant by infinite space. No matter in which direction we go we will never find end of space... Similarly can we define what is infinite consciousness? ( I hope meaning of ...
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What is the nature of the mental images that are perceived by patients who suffer from Charles Bonnet Syndrome?
I am not sure if this question should be asked in the Philosophy or Neuroscience forum as both domains are relevant to this inquiry. Will have a go anyway.
One of the defining characteristics of CBS ...
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how can one distinguish between disorder and the supernatural?
Many strange things happen to us when we are asleep.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-body_experience
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
...
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Does consciousness really exist?
Consciousness has been debated for centuries however not only we don't have a good definition of it, I struggle to believe this term makes any sense. To me it looks like the term was made up purely to ...
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What was Leibnitz's reasoning when he tried to prove machines cannot have consciousness using his "expansion" thought experiment?
I remember Leibnitz once particularly talked about this in one of his philosophy books (forget the book name, maybe Monadology). He said something like if consciousness can be made up of mechanical ...
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Why do people make theories without predictive power?
I studied neuroscience and during my studies I had a course called "The philosophy of consciousness". There we looked at a theory called Qualia, which infuriated me to no ends. Reading up on ...
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Is your consciousness the same every day?
I want to know what tell us the most popular theories of consciousness about its continuity over periods of uncounsciousness.
Identity through time is controversial, but assuming that you are the same ...
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Neutrinos & consciousness: fundamental link between the weak force, neutrino and biological cell? [closed]
I noticed several publications about a potential fundamental link between the weak force, electron neutrino and biological cell as origin of consciousness, however, there appears to be no 'buzz' about ...
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Why isn't there just one quale? (qualia)
As far as I know, the hard problem of consciousness is focused on how the physical and mental states relate. However I haven't been able to find any attempts to answer the question of how identical ...
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Is thinking an activity of a subject?
I am interested in the question of whether thinking must be an activity of a subject. Is it true that thinking has no reality without being a mode of the subject? Could it be possible that there is ...
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What did David Chalmers mean when he said we should use a nonreductive type of explanation of consciousness?
In "The Hard Problem of Consciousness", he stated "Given that reductive explanation
fails, nonreductive explanation is the natural choice." but what does this mean exactly? Is he ...
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Consciousness and atomic arrangement of body
Q1. If John disappears instantaneously at time t1 and is reconstructed at time t2 with exactly the same atomic arrangement, is John's consciousness in that new body?
Q2. If the answer to Q1 is yes, ...
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Why Do They Always Say to Keep The Faith On The Unknown, To Be Liberated? [closed]
Almost all the pious pundits and religious gurus preach us to keep the faith or take a leap of faith to be liberated. I don't understand, what is the faith all about and what to keep the faith on? ...
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Consciousness and Ontology
If consciousness is a fundamental property of reality, as David Chalmers and other philosophers/physicists speculate, does this mean that many of the ontological problems in philosophy would be solved?...
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Are philosophers just like poets when thinking about consciousness?
I bumped upon a book on metametaphysics and I feel like
reading about consciousness and philosophy of the mind
from a contemporary perspective, but right from the start,
in the face of an alarming net ...
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According to Chalmers, can neuroscience resolve the "hard problem of consciousness"?
This is a question that aims to clarify Chalmers's "hard problem of consciousness".
Suppose one day neuroscientists figured out how exactly to reproduce all (or virtually all) human ...
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What is hard about the “hard problem of consciousness”?
By the “hard problem”, I’m referring to the exposition by David Chalmers.
He phrased the hard problem as “why objective, mechanical processing can give rise to subjective experiences.” I find it ...
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Computer vs brain in many-worlds interpretation of QM
Assume that the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is true.
A classical computer that is modeled on the Turing machine is designed to perform exactly the same computation in each of the ...
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Was Peirce the first to distinguish objective and subjective possibilities?
I was reading IEP article about C.S Peirce where some of his logical notations for modal logic are presented, and one them seem to make a distinction between a subjective formula and an objective one....
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Did Charlies Peirce write this sentence or something closely related in meaning?
I saw the following phrase recently and I was surprised that it was ascribed to Peire:
"We do not really think, we are barely conscious, until something goes wrong"
Did Charlies Peirce write ...