The final section of the penultimate book in my philosophy course and the problem of consciousness may well be related by the appalling language apparently adored by philosophers. After wading through the ‘phenomenological’, the ‘explanans’ and ‘explanandum’ and biases from overconfidence through confirmation and hindsight I came to the conclusion that I don’t know what it would like to be a bat and science isn’t a place to try and come to a solution to the ‘hard problem of consciousness’. Mostly I was surprised that a subject that has spawned countless books was squashed into 17 pages (including a picture of a bat, Thomas Nagel really liked bats).
Now is the time to read Dennett. Consciousness explained (away).
Thinking about your own consciousness for too long can only hurt your head. It is fascinating though.
Yeah, I’ve mostly read it hence confusion as to why the chapter was so short
Yep, I studied it, postgrad, for a couple of years and it broke my bonce. Ken Cambell once described ‘thinking about thinking’ being “like trying to taste your own tongue”.
I like Bruce Hood’s books. I think I made it most of the way through The Self Illusion…
Got SI on order from library. Supersense appeals to my Buddhist side too.
I started Supersense but can’t get through it. Every time I stop I have to re-read what came before.
Have found Self Illusion as an audiobook (which means I’ll consume it much faster now, 50 minute commute FTW)