Single Idea 7876

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 7. Anti-Physicalism / d. Explanatory gap]

Full Idea

Materialists identify pain with the firing of nociceptive-specific neurons in the parietal cortex. Even so, Levine argues, we will still lack any explanation of why nociceptive-specific neurons yield pain.

Gist of Idea

Even if we identify pain with neural events, we can't explain why those neurons cause that feeling

Source

report of Joseph Levine (Purple Haze [2001]) by David Papineau - Thinking about Consciousness 5.1

Book Reference

Papineau,David: 'Thinking about Consciousness' [OUP 2004], p.141


A Reaction

[Proposed by Levine in 1983] I don't think we need to instantly go dualist when faced with this, but we may all eventually have to concede a bit of mysterianism. The explanation may be holistic (and hence hopelessly complex).