more from Colin McGinn

Single Idea 2540

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / D. Property Dualism / 6. Mysterianism]

Full Idea

You can look into your mind until you burst and not discover neurons and synapses, and you can stare at someone's brain from dawn till dusk and not perceive the consciousness that is so apparent to the person whose brain it is.

Gist of Idea

Examining mind sees no brain; examining brain sees no mind

Source

Colin McGinn (The Mysterious Flame [1999], p.47)

Book Reference

McGinn,Colin: 'The Mysterious Flame' [Basic Books 1999], p.47


A Reaction

This is a striking symmetry of ignorance, though hardly enough to justify McGinn's pessimism about understanding the mind. 'When you are in the grass you can't see the whole of England; if you can see the whole of England, you won't see the grass'.