Single Idea 2966

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 3. Panpsychism]

Full Idea

Halting the slide into panpsychism is the major advantage of holding that phenomenal qualities can exist unsensed.

Clarification

'Panpyschism' says consciousness exists but doesn't actually do anything. It is a side-effect of the brain.

Gist of Idea

Can phenomenal qualities exist unsensed?

Source

Michael Lockwood (Mind, Brain and the Quantum [1989], p.170)

Book Reference

Lockwood,Michael: 'Mind,Brain and the Quantum:The Compound 'I'' [Blackwell 1991], p.170


A Reaction

Presumably unsensed phenomenal qualities would explain the discovery that we seem to make decisions before we are conscious of what we intend to do. That result certainly implied that consciousness had no real function.