Consciousness: Egnor on determinism and free will (General)

by David Turell , Friday, March 01, 2019, 23:39 (2092 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: This thread began with the subject of free will versus determinism and then moved on to the question of whether there is or is not such a thing as objective reality. All of a sudden you switch the subject to the one we have been discussing year after year, and are still discussing on the two threads “Big brain evolution” and “Genome complexity”: i.e. the mechanisms that have driven evolution. Please can we keep to one subject at a time. In this case, I have argued that although “the nature of reality depends on who is looking”, there is such a thing as objective reality. Do you or do you not agree?

DAVID: Objective reality exists. You've not answered my point that it requires a mind to appreciate all of reality.

My criticism of this article concerned the assumption that just because it takes minds to observe and interpret the universe, there is no such thing as objective reality. That is why I parodied the whole argument: “If there were no minds in the objectively existing universe, there would be no minds to observe and interpret the objectively existing universe.” You have agreed with me in rejecting the claim that there are no objective facts. And I have agreed that it needs a mind to observe and interpret reality, though I have no idea why you have changed this to “appreciate all of reality”.

DAVID: And again, if there was no awareness of a large portion of reality how did cell committees know to create brains/minds. Cell committees can't create evolved new forms.

dhw: I will answer this on the appropriate thread (“Genome complexity”). Once again, please can we stick to one subject at a time.

I did. My point was if nothing is mental in the universe how do cells know to create a mental capacity? Just another logical attack on your beloved cell groups.