The problem with consciousness
Details
Hi Philosophers,
Our next Whisky & Wisdom topic takes us into one of the deepest and strangest questions in philosophy: what is consciousness?
In this session we’ll explore questions about awareness, subjective experience, the brain, and whether consciousness might exist beyond humans.
I hope you can join us!
## What is consciousness?
"How it is that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness comes about as a result of irritating nervous tissue, is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the Djin, when Aladdin rubbed his lamp." - Huxley
"Our being sensible of it is not necessary to anything but our thoughts, and to them it is and to them it always will be necessary." - Locke
"What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards...Man simply is. Not that he is simply what he conceives himself to be, but he is what he wills, and as he conceives himself after already existing – as he wills to be after that leap towards existence. Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself." - Sartre
Perhaps nothing about the mind is both so familiar and so mysterious as consciousness. Every moment we experience thoughts, sensations, emotions, and awareness of the world around us. Yet when we try to explain what consciousness actually is, things quickly become puzzling.
Today, the problem of consciousness sits at the centre of debates about the mind. Despite decades of research in philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology, there is still no widely agreed explanation of what consciousness is or how it arises. Many thinkers agree on one thing, however: if we want to understand the mind, we have to understand consciousness — what it is, and how it fits into the rest of reality.
In this session we’ll explore questions about awareness, subjective experience, the brain, and whether consciousness might exist beyond humans.
## Some questions to ponder
*What exactly is consciousness?
- Is consciousness simply brain activity, or something more?
*Could a machine ever truly be conscious? - Do animals have consciousness in the same way humans do?
*Is consciousness necessary for intelligence? - Could consciousness exist without a body?
*Are experiences like colour or pain something science can fully explain? - Could consciousness be an illusion?
*Is consciousness unique to humans, or widespread in nature? - If science could perfectly replicate your brain in a computer, would* you *still exist?
## Thought Experiment: The Philosophical Zombie
Imagine a creature that is physically identical to a human. It behaves exactly like us, talks like us, and reacts like us. But inside there is no inner experience at all — no thoughts, no feelings, no awareness.
From the outside you could never tell the difference.
Is such a creature possible? If it is, what does that tell us about consciousness?
## Other
https://www.philosophizethis.org/podcast/episode-179-consciousness-hard-problem