Qualia and Stuff
April 16, 2010
It’s not as if I believe Hegel to be right, I just think he’s closer than anybody else that I’ve come across. It would be cool if somebody could blend Hegel with Zen Buddhism. But, all of that has something to do with consciousness, or what philosophers of mind call qualia. It doesn’t really describe what lies outside of consciousness, if there is, in fact, something outside of it.
The one issue is that there could be a world independent of the way we are experiencing it, but even then, of what substance is it made? In other words, it, too, could be made of the stuff of consciousness, even if our own individual consciousness has modified it and interpreted so it would make sense to us.
Another question pertains to the origins of experience. Conventional wisdom would say that the mind is a product of the brain, so that everything we experience is happening because of this biological machine. And what stuff is it made of? Is the substance of the brain a material?
Most likely, the brain is made of the same stuff as the world that is being interpreted. This could be a physical substance, or it could be the consciousness of God. I really don’t know. Most people probably believe in physicalism, although it is not exactly clear what that means, in light of the newer insights in physics.
From Hegel to Existentialism
April 14, 2010
HEGEL AND THE HERMETIC TRADITON
April 14, 2010
Hegel
April 14, 2010
The Cambridge Companion to Hegel
April 14, 2010
Thomas Aquinas
April 14, 2010
On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History
April 13, 2010
Tae Kwon Do
April 12, 2010
They’re not so tough.
Aaron Cook Fighting in A Bronze Medal Match Against Zhu Guo at the 2008 Olympic Games, in the -80KG Event.
Three Wheelers
April 12, 2010
This is the way to have some Fun!
Home Work 