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Full Idea
All matter must contain the potential to underlie consciousness, since there is nothing special about the matter that composes brain tissue.
Gist of Idea
Brains aren't made of anything special, suggesting panpsychism
Source
Colin McGinn (The Mysterious Flame [1999], p.100)
Book Ref
McGinn,Colin: 'The Mysterious Flame' [Basic Books 1999], p.100
A Reaction
This seems to me one of the most basic assumptions which we should all make about the mind. The mind is made of the brain, and the brain is made of food. However, there must be something 'special' about the brain.
| 2543 | Brains aren't made of anything special, suggesting panpsychism [McGinn] |
| 2544 | Thoughts have a dual aspect: as they seem to introspection, and their underlying logical reality [McGinn] |
| 2545 | Free will is mental causation in action [McGinn] |
| 2546 | Philosophy is a magnificent failure in its attempt to overstep the limits of our knowledge [McGinn] |
| 2547 | There is information if there are symbols which refer, and which can combine into a truth or falsehood [McGinn] |
| 2539 | Mental modules for language, social, action, theory, space, emotion [McGinn] |
| 2540 | Examining mind sees no brain; examining brain sees no mind [McGinn] |
| 2542 | Causation in the material world is energy-transfer, of motion, electricity or gravity [McGinn] |