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Do unicorns exist in the mind?

You say : Do unicorns exist in the mind? Since the mind is that which thinks, imagines... it's obvious that unicorns exist in the mind. But, in order to proceed forward, I will answer the question : ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
1 vote

Do unicorns exist in the mind?

There is reasonable evidence that there are relatively dense, animated collections of molecules, light from which, upon entering your eyes, triggers chemical effects which propagate into your brain to ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
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1 vote

Do unicorns exist in the mind?

Unicorns do not exist in the mind, because they do not exist at all. The concept of an unicorn is a concept which exists in the mind. Anselm in his famous attempt to prove the existence of god by an ...
Jo Wehler's user avatar
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1 vote

The ultimate absurdity: if consciousness is an illusion, how can anything we know be real?

You say : The ultimate absurdity: if consciousness is an illusion, how can anything we know be real? I see two problems here : Materialism is still the prevailing ideology in Western thinking, ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
1 vote

The ultimate absurdity: if consciousness is an illusion, how can anything we know be real?

It is indeed the ultimate absurdity! The proposal is internally contradictory. The longest blind alley in modern philosophy - and bullshit! In contrast, a simpler proposal based on ancient philosophy. ...
Meanach's user avatar
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Does panpsychism imply mathematical entities are conscious?

No. In panpsychism, the fundamental stuff of the universe is matter-consciousness. Mathematical entities are immaterial. They are abstractions that can be used by conscious entities. At the ...
Meanach's user avatar
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0 votes

Does panpsychism imply mathematical entities are conscious?

Mathematical ideas are not conscious. However there is a craving to hold on to numbers and mathematics in general. Craving gives rise to grasping. Grasping gives rise to becoming(a Mathematician). ...
SacrificialEquation's user avatar
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Will we ever have an answer?

We don't know how or why the Universe is the way it is. If you accept mainstream science, then life on Earth seems to have evolved more or less by accident, with humans evolving from earlier animals. ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
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Will we ever have an answer?

It may be some comfort to know that you are not alone. Many people feel much the same as you do. The best answer I know of is not comfortable, but suggests a way of coping. Wittgenstein writes in ...
Ludwig V's user avatar
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-1 votes

Will we ever have an answer?

There is no set purpose, or reason why. These are things that you come up with by yourself. :) Hope this helps: https://youtu.be/MBRqu0YOH14?si=MEN9b9JvfeuFvcxm
polarsmh's user avatar
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Is every intelligence a collection?

Collection does not cover it. I propose synthesis as a better term.
Meanach's user avatar
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1 vote

Consciousness and Understanding of Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy

Nowadays we have computer programs that can play the games of chess and go at a much stronger level than human players. These programs can also be used to analyse games played by humans, and will ...
Stef's user avatar
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Critique of those missing the Hard Problem?

For monists and panpsychists, there is no division between matter and consciousness. Therefore, there is no hard problem. The fundamental stuff of the universe is matter-consciousness. Consciousness ...
Meanach's user avatar
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1 vote

Consciousness and Understanding of Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy

I think you are asking: is there understanding without consciousness? We need to know what consciousness is before we can even begin to answer that question. Consciousness must be all of our current ...
John Sydenham's user avatar
3 votes

Consciousness and Understanding of Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy

It may be that nothing can exist without consciousness because it is fundamental to the universe. In the panpsychist view there is no need for emergence. The hard problem disappears. I would recommend ...
Meanach's user avatar
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0 votes

How Can Computation Cause Consciousness?

I understand that your main question is around the issue of how and why consciousness exists. This is an unsolved problem by science, formulated in modern terms as the hard problem of consciousness. ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
4 votes

Consciousness and Understanding of Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy

During the period of classic physics scientists one way or another thought of the world as something totally independent of our perceptions, that was governed by some laws. Their main concern was to ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
2 votes

Consciousness and Understanding of Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy

There are many views on what consciousness is, if it exists at all. Most views accept that consciousness exists in some form, even if that's just the firing of neurons in a chemical soup (reductionism)...
NotThatGuy's user avatar
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How Can Computation Cause Consciousness?

There is nothing special about computability . Capacity to compute , in mind and in machine , arises , changes , and vanishes. Capacity to compute arises in a baby , who has no understanding or very ...
Dheeraj Verma's user avatar
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How Can Computation Cause Consciousness?

A point of weakness in your position is the assumption that your awareness influences whatever processes happen in your brain. To take a random example- while driving, you might see a traffic jam ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
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Is the speciousness of the specious present specious?

I have not read that whole SEP page for now, but at first glance the paragraph you quoted seems quite questionable to me. First of all, there is a big "if not, then" in there. It seems in no ...
AnoE's user avatar
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0 votes

How Can Computation Cause Consciousness?

Philosophical writers on theories of the mind fall into two categories, reductionist and non-reductionists. Neither camp could yet present definitive proof or a definitive way to disprove the other. ...
tkruse's user avatar
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1 vote

How Can Computation Cause Consciousness?

My first reason for being skeptical of this view is that it seems to me to be at odds with the idea that mental events can have a causal influence on the physical world. After all, the operation of a ...
causative's user avatar
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1 vote

Is the speciousness of the specious present specious?

The following - contrary to the guidlines - reflects my own thoughts about experience : Experience is not just a series of perceived states or events. Experience is a realization of a meaning of ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
4 votes

Is the speciousness of the specious present specious?

Continuing the SEP quote shows that we can "perceive a relation between two [successive] events" by using memory. ... a paradox in the notion of perceiving an event as occurring after ...
Chris Degnen's user avatar
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0 votes

Why am I this particular human being?

Look,feel,think etc, this is Experience. A part of this Experience is an imagined self including internal narratives about self. It is probably your brain that creates the Experience and the ...
John Sydenham's user avatar
0 votes

The more you learn, the more you are sad?

Good question. Some philosophers have found happiness in wisdom. There is a post-modern idea that learning leads to nihilism. Nihilism does not necessarily lead to depression, but it can in certain ...
Meanach's user avatar
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6 votes
Accepted

The more you learn, the more you are sad?

Any given piece of information can make you sad, but it can also make you happy. Whether the sum of all knowledge makes you more happy or more sad would be hard to judge, especially given that every ...
NotThatGuy's user avatar
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0 votes

What does Hume think about Occam's razor?

Is there an agreed wording of the definition? If not, I prefer to call it the principle of parsimony. It is a philosophical tool. I do not know what Hume believed.
Meanach's user avatar
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0 votes

What does Hume think about Occam's razor?

What does Hume think about Occam’s Razor? This timely article might be helpful: "The Philosophy of Security Risk Assessments," By Mark Ashford (13 November 2023); from https://www.asisonline....
Mark Andrews's user avatar
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0 votes

The initial point of everything

I believe your point is that the sum total of every single past event, completely and totally predicts the events that come afterward, and if this hypothesis is true, then there can be no free will. I ...
John Diller's user avatar
0 votes

The initial point of everything

Well, it seems to me that you are avoiding taking the responsibility of yourself. We all know of people that made something out of their lives who started from nothing. We also know of people that ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
0 votes

What exactly is the persuasive power behind Jackson's "Mary's Room" argument?

We do not need to hypothesise. In 2009 Catherine Mancuso from the University of Washington gave functional full colour vision to adult squirrel monkeys using gene therapy. Squirrel monkeys are a New ...
Richard Kirk's user avatar
0 votes

The initial point of everything

You seem to be saying that if everything that happens is a result of some combination of influences, then 1) there cannot be free will, and 2) if we rewind the history of the Universe there should be ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
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Does Hume propose that causes might actually just be explained by coincidence?

Coincidence has a number of meanings. One expresses the idea of being at a common place in time and/or space. Another expresses the idea of an accidental or unrelated correspondence, or even a fluke. ...
Marco Ocram's user avatar
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0 votes

The initial point of everything

Your question is well-intentioned but unclear. The initial point of everything is a fundamental question. By point, do you refer to meaning or value, perhaps? Panpsychism proposes a conscious universe....
Meanach's user avatar
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0 votes

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

Your basic question seems to be: what implications does the pursuit of no-mind have for our understanding of consciousness, selfhood, and the nature of reality? For consciousness, we can realize ...
Scott Rowe's user avatar
0 votes

The initial point of everything

There are many things to consider. What type of system is our existence (the universes system)? Is it: everything that exists; is it open, is it closed; is it mostly closed but part open; is it ...
Doug James's user avatar
1 vote

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

To begin with, there is no direct conceptual analogy to 'no mind'. The tenant of Buddhist meditation is to recognise this. Once recognised it is beyond a standard understanding. It is non-conceptual. ...
EmptyShaman's user avatar
1 vote

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

You're making a classic interpretation error in conflating 'no mind' with a 'chattering of the mind' and that Zen is aimed at quieting the mind. 'No mind' isn't just a kind of blankness of thought ...
Cdn_Dev's user avatar
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2 votes

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

No mind is not difficult to achieve. When we sleep we loose control of the conscious mind. Only subconscious mind is active. Subconscious mind is always awake whether we are doing meditation or ...
Dheeraj Verma's user avatar
2 votes

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

In Heidegger's phenomenology there is an angling to no-mind. (For leads, thanks to Tang Huyen on Heidegger Forum 2023.) The foundation of beings is Being. Heidegger aims to focus thought away from ...
Chris Degnen's user avatar
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1 vote

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

In Hinduism the basic term is ātman, not the term mind (= manas) - do you really mean "no mind"? Early Indian literature, the Upanishads, again and again discuss the meaning and the ...
Jo Wehler's user avatar
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2 votes

Exploring the Concept of "No Mind" in Eastern Philosophy: An Inquiry into the Foundations and Implications

You are touching upon a very complicated subject, that Western philosophers avoid dealing with. From the begining of philosophy in ancient Greece the main pursuit was that which is hidden behind the ...
Ioannis Paizis's user avatar
0 votes

Why am I this particular human being?

I am going to concentrate on the general aspect of this question - consciousness. I am here and now x because universal events have led to x, a conscious being. If we accept the monist panpsychist ...
Meanach's user avatar
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0 votes

How can consciousness be an illusion?

This article refers to human consciousness, not consciousness per se. The only thing that I can be sure of, as a starting, point, is that I am a conscious being. If I were not so, then I would be ...
Meanach's user avatar
  • 1,492
3 votes
Accepted

Is every intelligence a collection?

Modularity of the mind (SEP) is the article that covers the idea that the mind is not a monolithic entity. Marvin Minsky, Jerry Fodor, and other philosophers of mind recognize that if intelligence is ...
J D's user avatar
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