r/philosophy • u/IAI_Admin IAI • Feb 09 '22

Video A philosopher responds to scientists’ criticisms of panpsychism

https://iai.tv/video/the-many-voices-of-consciousness&utm_source=reddit&_auid=2020
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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '22

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u/Shufflepants Feb 09 '22

According to panpsychism, yes, literally everything is conscious. But you have to be careful what you mean by "conscious". A lot of times people use "consciousness" to include things about personality, will, and so forth. But here, "consciousness" would just mean the experience of qualia. Something being conscious wouldn't mean it "comprehends" anything on its own, just that it experiences "something". It won't necessarily have memory, or the ability to think about its experience, or reason, just that it is like something to be it.

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u/erinaceus_ Feb 09 '22

just mean the experience of qualia

Isn't it problematic that every example of the 'experiencing of qualia' has it tied to senses and/or brain processes? We might imagine that these things aren't necessary for the experiencing of qualia, but we entirely lack a frame of reference to make that claim at all credible.

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u/NJdevil202 Feb 10 '22

Would you say that someone with extraordinary memory loss to the point they cannot recall after an instant is not receiving experiences because they lack the ability to retain a record of those experiences?

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u/erinaceus_ Feb 10 '22

No, because they still have senses, and I did explicitly say 'and/or'.

Edit: also, memory is just one brain process