seeds wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:37 pm
Yeah, but your "above reasons" are based on you mistakenly conflating the limitations implicit in the workings of physical matter with that of the infinite possibilities inherent in the workings of mind and consciousness.
promethean75 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 27, 2021 3:42 pm
See you're talking about 'mind' and 'consciousness' as if they were things that we possess, rather than as descriptions of meaningful behaviors...
Yes, that's true. However, when I speak of the "mind," I am talking about what I suggest is a
living "arena" in which our thoughts and dreams are created and suspended.
For example, close your eyes and create the image of a basketball before the "eye" of your mind and then shuffle it over to the left-hand side of your inner field of vision.
Next, create the image of a golf ball and shuffle that over to the right-hand side of your inner field of vision so that there is a good deal of space in between the two.
And just for kickers, cause the golf ball to orbit around the basketball like the moon orbits the earth.
(I suggest that you try to imagine the objects as possessing a level of clarity and realism as the objects you experience while dreaming.)
The point is that the inner
"spatial arena" in which those two holographic-like objects are suspended and orbiting each other is a part of the extended essence of your own personal being. And it is that extended essence that makes-up what I am calling the
"mind."
And just to address a couple of points in the video you linked to, one of Peter Hacker's fictional characters stated the following bits...
...the question I think is what a human being is? I mean we speak of having a mind and having a body. It seems as if the entity that has the mind and has the body is the "I," but what exactly is this "I"?
The "I" is the self-aware entity (the inner mental "agent") that willfully created the basketball and the golf ball in my earlier suggestion as to what the mind is.
And what that means is that you are carrying around - right within your own skull - a perfect representation of substance dualism. And that's because the
creator of the basketball and the golf ball does not seem to be made of the same malleable substance from which those two objects are formed.
...Is it a self?
Yes, the "I" is the self.
In fact, the "I" and the "self" and the "soul" are all synonyms for the same thing.
And what's a human being? Is it a self-attached to a mind and body?
As pointed out earlier, the mind is the self's extended essence that forms the inner spatial arena in which the self's thoughts and dreams are created and suspended.
Whereas, on the other hand, the body and, especially, the brain represent the physiological means by which the self (aka, the "I"/"soul") is awakened into existence.
Or is the self the mind?
No, the self is not the mind, it is the owner of the mind. The self is that which sits at the throne of consciousness within the mind's arena.
But if the self is the mind, how can we speak of it having a mind?
Again, the self is not the mind. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to think of the self as having a mind.
I'm afraid we are confused.
Yes they are, but not quite as confused as the self-declared forum "troll" who recommended the video, and who claims that he would rather be fishing than debating such things.
What's the deal, dude?
Is this how you troll people? You goad them into responding to something and then blow them off by insisting that you just don't have the patience to do these types of exhausting arguments over and over again?
(Btw, it would help if you used the site's quote system. It notifies us when someone posts a reply to our own posts.)
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