On 5 February 2014 01:34, David Nyman <[email protected]> wrote: > On 4 February 2014 13:57, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> wrote: > >> We can refer to our conscious states because the base phenomena on which >> our conscious states supervene cause our vocal cords to move in a particular >> way. But it is wrong to say, except in a loose way of speaking, that our >> conscious states cause our vocal cords to move. The supervenient phenomenon >> follows in a straightforward way (by virtue of being supervenient) without >> the need for downward causation. > > > But then there is no entailment that the movements of our vocal cords refer > to conscious states, is there? They're just physical systems following > physical causation, at whatever level of analysis. If so, I'd like to know > what reason you have to take seriously your own assertions that you are > conscious, since the only evidence is presumably neuronal behaviour that > falls victim to the same analysis you give above. Or do you claim to have > access to some other method of "knowing you are conscious"?
Of course I know I am conscious. I could say, what a silly question! If I declare that I am conscious this action is entirely explainable in physical terms. I am also actually conscious, but that's not why I'm saying it, since consciousness doesn't move vocal cords or anything else. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
