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23224
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That all matter thinks is absurd, and would make each part of our bodies a distinct self-consciousness [Bentley]
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Full Idea:
[Belief in thinking matter] leads to monstrous absurdities. …Every stock and stone would be a percipient and rational creature. …every single Atom of our bodies would be a distinct Animal, endued with self-consciousness and personal sensation of its own.
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From:
Richard Bentley (Matter and Motion Cannot Think [1692], p.14-15), quoted by Matthew Cobb - The Idea of the Brain 2
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A reaction:
Sounds correct, though presumably panpsychists don't think the flickers of consciousness in my toenails and hair constitute full-blown persons. I can't imagine what awareness is being claimed for my toenails.
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22973
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The present moment, time's direction, and time's dynamic quality seem to be objective facts [Price,H]
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Full Idea:
The flow of time seems to be an objective feature of reality because of 1) the present moment can be objectively distinguished, 2) time has an objective direction, of earlier and later, and 3) there is something objectively dynamic about time.
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From:
Huw Price (The Flow of Time [2011], 1.1)
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A reaction:
Price sets out to undermine all three of these claims, in implicit defence of a psychological view. I disagree with him.
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22975
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We must explain either the existence of a time direction, or our psychological sense of it [Price,H]
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Full Idea:
If the world comes equipped with a time orientation, where does it come from? If it doesn't, what explains our psychological feeling of a direction for time?
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From:
Huw Price (The Flow of Time [2011], 3.5)
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A reaction:
The chances of 'explaining' either one look slim to me. That is, the fact would explain our experience, but the experience without the fact looks ridiculous, and I cannot conceive of any time-free entity which could explain the fact.
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