Human Consciousness: how we observe (Humans)

by dhw, Wednesday, August 17, 2016, 12:16 (3019 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: As before, I view all animals without a brain as automatons. Caesar had a brain and an animal soul in my view. I also believe consciousness requires a brain to be received, as shown by NDE studies. This fits dualism.-dhw: NDE studies suggest the exact opposite: the clinically dead patients still have their identity, their memories and the ability to think, perceive and communicate. Their consciousness therefore survives without a brain, and so no receiver is required. This fits dualism, and so according to your beliefs, consciousness does not require a brain.-DAVID: You say NDE studies mean the opposite. No. van Lommel's book, Consciousness Beyond Life, 2010, basically proposes dualism in that the brain is a receiver (like a radio). While the brain is unconscious because it is not functioning, the NDE person's consciousness still receives the info of the episode and passes it back to the person when their brain revives. I hope that clears up this point.-I'm afraid it doesn't. The “dead” patients retain their identity, and perceive and communicate with other “dead” people, i.e. they receive information without having a functioning brain. When disembodied consciousness returns to the body, of course it remembers its experiences. If I put on my dualist hat (as usual, I am agnostic on this issue), I would suggest that the receiving brain is only required to relay information to the body. If one does not have a body, one does not need a brain. To sum it up, NDEs seem to suggest that consciousness does NOT require a brain to be received, and that is precisely the reason why they are cited as evidence for dualism (and also for life after death).