Despite its simultaneous simplicity and complexity, consciousness is the foundation of human experiences in that no human experiences could exist at all apart from human consciousness. And yet some, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson (a quick Google search can find a YouTube video where he proposes this), suggest that consciousness is an illusion and/or that it doesn't actually exist. Yet I know with absolute certainty that this is false, for at the very least my own consciousness exists. I may not be able to know if any minds exist outside of my own, but I cannot be mistaken about my own consciousness. I know that I have written on some of this before. Still, I want to very directly address this. I will explain here how consciousness cannot be an illusion.
 |
| Apart from consciousness, the human body would be nothing but an unanimated shell. It is consciousness, a property of minds, that enables perception, thought, memory, and rationality. |
Some may say that I can only perceive that my body exists but never actually know if I have a physical body or not. Now, there is a way for me to prove to myself with absolute logicality and absolute certainty that I do have a physical body of some kind [2]; I do not mean at all to imply that I can at best only perceive that I have a body outside of my mind. But even if this were untrue and no such proof existed which I could access, my point is entirely unaffected. The thing is that if I even perceive that I have a mind, or consciousness, then it is impossible for me to not have one, since the ability to perceive is consciousness itself.
Even if there were no external world, no objects or locations that existed outside of my mind, no matter at all--and I know that there is some sort of material external world outside of my mind [3], so this is a totally hypothetical scenario--as long as I am thinking, perceiving, experiencing, or willing anything at all, then I know with absolute certainty that my conscious mind exists and that it grasps the necessary existence of logic and truth. Even if my senses perceived nothing but pure immaterial illusions, mental constructs of my imagination taking the form of sensory perceptions, and nothing outside of the present moment could be certain, my consciousness still exists and I know this for sure as long as I am experiencing perception or thought of any kind whatsoever. Whether dreaming or awake, any experience at all necessitates consciousness (see [2] for this as well). Consciousness cannot be an illusion because an illusion cannot be perceived apart from consciousness.
As I have clarified in this article, I am not at all suggesting that there is no such thing as matter or that I cannot know for sure if I have a body or if an external world exists. See some of the links below for more information on these subjects. Idealism (which holds that nothing exists but minds and their perceptions) is a very asinine metaphysical position, one that is objectively false. Yet, though I have mentioned this before and plan on exploring it more thoroughly in the future, the primary attention of this article is how consciousness cannot be an illusion and therefore the issue of idealism will be mostly kept separate.
There are some that might deny the existence of consciousness or the mind because to acknowledge these things would mean admission that their worldviews are objectively incorrect. One example of this type of person is a naturalist, someone who believes that nothing except for nature exists--just purely physical matter. The truth of the matter (I amuse myself sometimes) is that my mind and logic could not exist if naturalism were true. Yet they do. Logic exists by pure necessity and would exist even if no minds or matter existed at all, and since I am conscious I know that my mind exists. And then there is the fact that an uncaused cause exists (what I mean by the word "God") [4]--and if I did not have a beginning then I am that being, or at the very least I have always existed as a conscious mind.
My consciousness is what animates my body. Without consciousness and the mind that is the seat of that consciousness my body would be lifeless. Indeed, this is how the Bible defines death in James 2:26: as the separation of the mind/soul from the body. It cannot be an illusion, for to experience an illusion I must have consciousness, and thus it is objectively impossible for my consciousness to be anything but real, even if my consciousness perceives some things that are merely illusory. A rationalist can realize this very quickly, yet some scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson instead offer absolutely asinine claims that reality pushes away because they are impossible. The existence of consciousness remains proven in full to any mind that thinks and perceives.
[1]. I have written about miscellaneous aspects of consciousness and phenomenology in other places, such as the following ones:
A. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-immateriality-of-consciousness.html
B. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/10/types-of-thoughts.html
C. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/aspects-of-consciousness.html
[2]. This is one of the articles where I discussed this proof:
https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/dreams-and-consciousness.html
[3]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-external-world.html
[4]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-uncaused-cause.html
No comments:
Post a Comment