[Wittrs] Re: Dennett's paradigm shift, Mirsky's wheel
- From: "jrstern" <jrstern@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:30:52 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "BruceD" <blroadies@...> wrote:
>
> > Think again of the wheel and its turning. If the wheel is an
> > entity must we think its turning is, too??????
>
> I can't see why this analogy has a hold on you. Yes, the turning
> is an entity but turning is what entities do, from point A to
> point B. We can "see" the turn in that we see the displacement of
> the wheel. But we can't see the brain do consciousness because we
> don't see consciousness. There is no analogy here beyond the fact
> that both C and turning aren't entities, although turning is what
> an entity can do.
I don't think the analogy is total, but it might be clarifying on a
couple of useful points.
(and you said above both that turning is an entity, and that it
isn't)
Let's step back a moment.
The wheel is a material object.
It may not be turning.
Something (kinetic energy) must be added to make it turn.
(details depending on whether the wheel is hanging on a post, or attached to a
wagon, etc)
I don't see how that makes turning an "entity", but then, we could
quibble about what "entity" means anyway.
A turning wheel may generally have more interesting causal effects
than a non-turning wheel. I would not guess this is "consciousness",
but it may be "motion"!
I would say there is a wheel without turning, but I'd say there is
not a turning, without the wheel.
What is it like, to be a turning wheel?
ObW: We are talking about the facts of the matter here mixed in
with how we use particular terms, of which the most problematic
seems to be "entity". Is it possible to clarify "entity", without
serious regard for the underlying facts?
Josh
ps - apologies for as much of this as Stuart may have already recited
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- » [Wittrs] Re: Dennett's paradigm shift, Mirsky's wheel - jrstern
