Sunday, November 27, 2016

The Challenge of Consciousness

An interview between Riccardo Manzotti and Tim Parks

Discussion on the physiological, psychological, and metaphysical concepts of consciousness, identity, and present awareness of the world, (at least that's what I got from it).

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Interesting excerpt, out of context, as applied to the idea of consciousness (and therein, I believe, identity) being understood as a physical manifestation:

Parks: But again, should we be thinking of consciousness as a thing, or a process?
Manzotti: Well, if the world that surrounds us is made of things, objects, and physical processes, consciousness is likely to be one of them. People tend to be extremely hesitant when approaching consciousness and to treat it as a special case. But I’m not sure that’s helpful. If it is a real phenomenon, and most people agree that it is, why shouldn’t it be like all other physical phenomena, something made of matter and energy whose activity is explicable by its physical properties?

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Perhaps a bit off the rails from materiality and our current discussions, but I think it's something to consider when approaching the idea of how we, as human beings with consciousness and awareness, perceive material itself.

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