Bryan
Dec 03, 2004, 12:24 AM
The openning page seems to argue that the world is simply a construct of the human mind. No, the mind interpretes reality, and reality exists independent of man's mind. The issue is the primacy of consciousness vs the primacy of existence. The site seems to support the idea that consciousness is first, and it melds reality. Not so, consciousness must be conscious of something to be qua consciousness. In other words, a requirement to be conscious is to be conscious of something, otherwise not being conscious of anything is not consciousness. Thus existence is the primary, and consciousness follows after it.
Unknown
Dec 03, 2004, 07:59 AM
| QUOTE (Bryan @ Dec 03, 12:24 AM) |
| The openning page seems to argue that the world is simply a construct of the human mind. |
I read it as mind constructs reality. The only thing 'human' about it is that most people identify their mind as human.
"Not so, consciousness must be conscious of something to be qua consciousness"
This is a common unjustified claim. While it may seem that most, if not all, of our consciousness must be conscious of something, not everyone agrees with this and furthermore, your statement may just be a due to the limitations of your experience. In other words, just because you've never experienced consciousness without an object does not imply that it is not possible to experience consciousness without an object. That would be like a person who can't see in color claiming that visual consciousness must be consciousness of grayscales. Obviously this claim is absurd because the claim is simply due to the limitations of the subject's experiences. In a similar manner, your claim of consciousness requiring an object may be reflective of the limitations of your experience.
Rick
Dec 03, 2004, 08:59 AM
This is one of those rare occasions where I find myself agreeing with an Unknown. Pure consciousness can exist that is not conscious "of" any object.
I also agree with Bryan that there is a physical reality that exists that people perceive via consciousness. This collection of physical things contains physical brains made of atoms from which all consciousness(s) arise(s).
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