Lecture 10 - Mind and Consciousness
Definition of consciousness hard.
"The most obvious and mysterious feature of the mind"
Descartes - dualism - mind stuff and
ordinary matter. Soul communicated via pineal gland.
Consciousness = self-awareness?
Animal examples.
Evolution of consciousness
Janes' theory: Appeared about 1000 BC.
Before that humans had "bicameral mind"
- executive part - a god.
- follower part - a man.
Preconscious literature - Homer's Iliad,
book of Amos.
Evolution seems to have favoured conscious
beings (like us).
An unconscious automaton could not write
a book or read one.
Brain -> consciousness interaction
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Imitate human mental activity with machines.
Robotics.
Expert systems.
Psychology - discover brain's mode of working by simulation.
Strong AI
Mental qualities attributed to functioning
of any computational device.
e.g. thermostat.
Is measured T < (Ts-d) or T >
Ts?
- <Ts - turn on heater
- >Ts - turn off heater
This operation is called an "algorithm"
Thermostats have beliefs? Everything is conscious?
Strong AI: Mental activity of brain
only an algorithm.
Turing test: Try to distinguish a computer
from a human.
Unconscious body functions may be algorithmic.
But conscious functions cannot be described by algorithm.
Judgement forming; ability to "intuit"
truth from falsity; beauty from ugliness.
Creatures with better algorithms survive
better. - but judge validity of algorithms?
Consciousness required to comprehend
mathematical truth.
Gödel's theorem proves this.
Libet's experiments: Brain's reaction
to stimuli.
Conscious awareness occurs about 0.5s
after stimulus.
Consciousness -> brain -> action.
Kornhuber's experiment.
Decision to flex finger preceded by
1s of neural activity.
Insight, inspiration and originality
Flashes of insight thrown up by unconscious
- ring of truth? beautiful?
Dirac's equation for the electron.
Global way of thinking - Mozart "sees"
his musical work.
Religious comprehension.
Mystical experiences - altered state
of consciousness. Assuming control over automatic body processes
(breathing etc.).
Meditation -> lower respiratory rate,
lower blood lactate, rise elec. resistance of skin, increase intensity
of EEG slow alpha waves.
Psychokinesis and paranormal effects.
- influence rate of radioactive decay?
Whatever happened to the Soul?
(ed. W.S. Brown et al, 1998).
Ancient ideas:
- Plato: Person is an immortal soul
imprisoned in a mortal body.
- Aristotle: soul is a 'life principle'
- that which provides powers or attributes of a human being.
Christian writers.
- Tertullian: human soul is corporeal
and generated within the body.
- Origen: The soul is incorporeal
and eternal, pre-existing the body.
- Jerome and after: soul is created
at the time of conception.
- Augustine: a human is an immortal
soul using a human body.
- Thomas Aquinas: Complex descriptions.
Speaks of hierarchically ordered powers of the soul, ranging from
growth and reproduction up to imagination and the higher senses.
- Descartes (1596-1650) spoke of 'extended
substance' and 'thinking substance' (included angels and human
minds).
[He was also one of the fathers of atomism].
Problems:
If the mind is immaterial, how can
it move the body?
If it is quasi-physical, we should be able to measure it using scientific
methods.
Problem of conservation of energy: a non-physical mind propels you
to walk out?
Psychophysical parallelism:
Physical events cause physical events.
Mental events cause mental events but there is an appearance of
causal interaction between mental and physical due to God intervening
either at the beginning or constantly.
Epiphenomenalism: The conscious
mental life is a byproduct of physical processes in the brain.
The mind is identical to the brain?
A type identity?
e.g. pain sensation or belief -> particular neurons firing.
- implies that mental descriptions correspond to physical descriptions.
- implies that psychology will reduce to neuroscience.
Scientific ideas
Darwinian evolution + Descartes' idea that animals are only machines
-> humans are also just machines?
Biology seems to indicate a continuity
of forms leading to man. Did God create a soul in a pre-existing
creature? When and which one?
If there is no distinct soul, how is a human distinct from other
animals?
Genetic problems
Suggestion that there may not be any
genes that are unique to humans. [But genes act together, not singly.]
Is there a genetic element influencing religious behaviour? Twin
studies.
Neuroscience
Particular regions of brain associated
with particular cognitive tasks (PET studies).
e.g damage in one area affects ability to recognise emotions.
Brain far more complex than your (PC) computer.
e.g. no storage area full of faces you need to remember.
Theological issues
What happens to the soul between death
and the final resurrection?
After resurrection I will still be
'I' but in a different body and a new kind of existence.
Position choices:
Radical dualism:
Person = soul.
Holistic dualism: Person has
several 'parts'.
Non-reductive physicalism (dual
aspect monism): Person is a physical organism, whose complex functioning,
both in society and in relation to God, gives rise to higher human
capacities such as morality and spirituality.
Reductive physicalism: all a
person's emotional, moral and religious experiences will ultimately
be explained by science.
Position affects ideas on abortion, treatment of animals, emphasis
on saving souls or caring for people's physical needs.
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