CONSCIOUSNESS, MIND AND THE WORLD - FOOTNOTES
1. Visit the Banana Slug Home Page at http://www.slugs.com/slugweb/slug_home_page.html... [entertainment value]
2. Consider alternatives to behavior…except, note, I
argue below that behavior is not non-mental
3. Words relating to the stark aspect: central, multiple,
recollection, reference, comparison, symbol, language, social, cultural
4. The concept of a nervous system in this paragraph is
simply what is recognized as nervous system in biology. Communication and
coordination among cells in a multi-cellular organism may be [and is] accomplished
by other means that in terms of discreteness and speed are more elementary. These
other modes of communication - simple mechanical interaction among cells that
respond to mechanical stimulus, endocrine and immune action…- also show
elements of mind and, therefore potentially, of consciousness at least in any
revised universal sense
5. The discussion here is open to the accusation “this
is an absurd view called pan-psychism”. Of course the accusation itself
is open to the criticism of being based in an anthropomorphic -or zoomorphic - view
of mind. The argument here is not that the universe is or is filled in every
last crevice by consciousness as I experience it. This is analogous to the
point that a scientific world view does not make any claim that the material
nature of the world is constituted of matter as I know it through my direct
experience. However there is an extension of the immediate percept of matter,
based in conceptual and perceptual [empirical] extension that is the foundation
of the material side of nature. Similarly, I am arguing for a conceptual-perceptual
extension of the idea of mind and consciousness beyond the immediate perceptual
apprehension as “qualia”. I am further arguing that such an
extension does not so much pervade matter but is a more general and inclusive
idea than the idea of matter and the inclusivity is such that matter appears as
a special case. This argument is distributed through the present system of
essays - the “three circles”
6. As instanced, for example, by Atomism and by the
evolutionary paradigm - and theory - in biology
7. It will not because the materialist mode excludes
experience as a fact although it may allow a language by means of which one may
refer to experience. It need not since an efficient alternative described here
is available
8. The scheme that follows implicitly includes process/action
9. Used here in the semantic rather than the existential
sense. I may use the word in an existential sense - which may have analogies to
the semantic meaning of meaning - and may then need to be careful. I do not
want to get into the notion of literal meaning here. Clearly meaning is an
element of language and thought; actual systems of language cannot be asserted
to have final adequacy according to any criterion of significance; therefore
the idea of literal is something of an illusion
10. “One cannot guess how a word functions. One has
to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the
prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 340
11. Including art and the existential sense of meaning for
witness the history of the use of esthetic criteria in mathematics and science -
not only the classical period, but also in the Medieval Era, in
12. Dictionaries and associations for language and language/linguistic
standards are conveniences
13. ...and, of course, the possibility that the exploration
may yield a nihilistic universe in which exploration is meaningless, or a lazy
one...or one in which a commitment - perhaps one with sufficient detachment
from ends - is truth and wonder
14. Note: Elevate the following from its status as a
footnote. The topic of discussion is the idea that the most fundamental of
truths can be known from “common experience.” Although this is not
a perfectly well defined idea here is an example - a reflection the popular “why
is there something rather than nothing?” Here is a brief answer - that
ignores the problematic meaning of nothing and nothingness as distinct from no-thing
and no-thing-ness. If there were nothing, there would be nothing not even laws
or determinism. Indeterminism in the case of nothing existing can only mean
that something will come into existence...along with the conditions of its
existence - laws, patterns. The existence would have to have some kind of
stability...otherwise it would be a mere virtual or potential existence. There
may have been phases of non-existence. The universe can only be observed in a
state of existence...we are around to observe the present incarnation. There
are related comments on indeterminism-determinism in section 5, below. Objection:
But is not a real “State of
15. The experience vs. reason dualism is an epistemic
dualism that mirrors the dualism of matter and mind. Is there not a place where
experience merges into reason? Also note: by reason I mean the use of the
agencies of the mind so long as they are not completely determinate; emotion is
not at all excluded
16. This is not to imply that any trajectory is free of
interpretation or that any trajectory can - or cannot - provide definite
conclusions
17. This is not a claim that those conclusions include
monism
18. Others, especially those in cultures with non Western
cosmologies have other views
19. Placement in context, in the world...the antithesis of
alienation
20. I emphasize “normal” in no particular sense
except to suggest that it is neither necessary nor absolute...and that the
inclusive view is not necessarily foreign to either biology or culture
21. This is always the task. Heidegger viewed metaphysics
as an obstacle, introduced insights, clarifications for his time...and further “confusion.”
23. Further elaboration: Being that lies in the continuum
of question and answer...questions that are not only asked and explicitly with
the intellect and answers that are not only given [with thought, reason,
intellect...] but are the fabric of its existence, grounded in its heart,
sealed in its soul. Question and answer that are one and the same when on the
beach silently gazing out at the deep blue...or amid the multiple currents and
transactions of everyday life
24. I do not feel that I am different from others in this
regard. I may of course have different ideas and make different choices
25. See Consciousness, Mind and the World for elaboration
and specification of what I mean by common
26. Knowledge has an aspect as relationship...and another
aspect as being
27. We do not perceive zero durations of time and therefore
zero duration is not a good meaning of an instant. Nor do we know from physics
that zero duration is a meaningful quantity even though it is used as a concept
just as points of space are also used. An instant is the shortest duration of
time that a being can experience or perceive. This may not be the final concept
but it is in the right direction. An instant for a human being may be a
significant period for a bacterium. Thus there may be being for which infinity
is an “instant.” This means that an infinity could be perceived or
experienced at a glance, “at once.” This does not mean that finite
instants could not be seen - perhaps Absolute Being or some relative could
perceive zero duration
28. The thrill of the ultimate is a specific and real
emotion. Thrill could be replaced by a neutral feeling. By giving it a specific
name, I intend a use that is not derivative of something else. It is not awe or
mystery although it is related to or includes these feelings. It does not carry
the implications of the, perhaps modern senses of awe and mystery related as
they are to humility; while humility is not excluded or negated, the feeling of
the ultimate is not essentially one in which the individual is shading one’s
eyes from some greater or superior presence. It is real in that it is not
related only to the psychological side, it is not just a feeling...it is a
feeling of. It is the feeling of placement within, of knowledge of the map of
reality...of simplicity, assertion, clarity, perhaps aggression [oh no!] and
real power
30. Further notes on being and consciousness: [1] Being is
the thing that I have been trying to strain consciousness - the idea - to be. The
sense in which being is the thing includes the idea of question and answer of
feeling, experimenting a way toward recognition of self and world...a way in
which strict and steely inexorable logic may be a tool but not a religion. Question:
is it straining...or am I just somewhat trapped in the old ways of thought. And
if it is straining then is it straining of the concept or of the imagination...or
both? Either way, even though being is or may be “the thing,” a new
word may be needed owing to the baggage associated with “being.” Therefore
the circles of Being and the Absolute, of Consciousness, Mind and the World,
and of Consciousness and Nature need to be reworked with these thoughts in view.
[2] The route to being through consciousness is still valuable: it shows some
structural details and approaches to being; we learn about being and
consciousness. [3] The scientific and common explanation of consciousness
therefore remains of primary - but not unique - importance. This explanation
may or may not be much affected by idealism according to whether our immediate
human experience does or does not specify the final concept of consciousness. However,
idealism does show that the scientific and common explanation will be in an “as
if” mode and that the hard problem of consciousness is fallacious i.e. not
a problem at all. This problem has its origin in a material paradigm and, as
such, is artifactual in nature and therefore will have no resolution within
this framework
31. ...or atoms. Monads are not seen as existing in
isolation but in relation. Monads in relation is a special case of distribution