home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
/ NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3 / NN_1993_3.iso / spool / sci / philosop / tech / 5004 < prev    next >
Encoding:
Internet Message Format  |  1993-01-28  |  1.8 KB
  1. Xref: sparky sci.philosophy.tech:5004 sci.philosophy.meta:3175 sci.skeptic:22953
  2. Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech,sci.philosophy.meta,sci.skeptic
  3. Path: sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!decwrl!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!torn!skule.ecf!pelton
  4. From: pelton@ecf.toronto.edu (PELTON MATTHEW ALAN)
  5. Subject: Re: Mysticism and Provability (Was: Re: MINDWALK)
  6. Message-ID: <C1Hsq9.CBB@ecf.toronto.edu>
  7. Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
  8. References: <1993Jan19.182403.3979@newstand.syr.edu> <1993Jan20.050642.4355@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> <1993Jan26.163049.23614@netcom.com>
  9. Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 03:08:26 GMT
  10. Lines: 27
  11.  
  12. In article <1993Jan26.163049.23614@netcom.com> barry@netcom.com (Kenn Barry) writes:
  13. >In article <1993Jan20.050642.4355@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) writes:
  14. >>If you try to tell me that there is something that is real, cannot be
  15. >>perceived, _and_ has no physical effects, direct or indirect, then logic would
  16. >>indeed tell us to forget it.  But I agree with logic here.
  17. >
  18. >    I know an example of what you want: other people's
  19. >consciousness. When you get right down to it, all we have is induction
  20. >to verify they exist. Another's consciousness can't be perceived
  21. >directly. As for indirect, that calls for drawing conclusions. We may
  22. >believe that sentience is a prerequisite for human-type behavior, but
  23. >who knows? Maybe a mindless automaton of sufficient complexity could act
  24. >the same.
  25. >
  26. >    Even your _own_ consciousness isn't provable by others.
  27. >Sentience has all the characteristics of a mystical notion, _is_ a
  28. >mystical notion, but pure materialists always seem to overlook it.
  29. >
  30. >                        Kayembee
  31.  
  32.   So?
  33.  
  34. -- 
  35.                    / )/ )/ )        /    /
  36.             /  /  /      --/----/--
  37.                        /  /  /  / \   /    /
  38.               /  /  /   \_/\ /    /  
  39.