[Wittrs] Re: What Is Ontological Dualism?
- From: Gordon Swobe <gts_2000@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:23:01 -0700 (PDT)
> neither I nor Searle nor the CRT presume anything more than
> the basic fact of philosophy of consciousness: there is subjective
> experience in an objective universe.
Right. Searle starts with the simple observation that people have subjective,
qualitative experiences. When he asserts the ontological irreducibility of
these mental phenomena, he means simply that people really do have such things
as toothaches - that such things as toothaches really do exist in the world.
And of course he's right; we know this before we start doing philosophy.
Eliminativists like Dennett defy common sense. Dennett essentially denies the
reality of toothaches, and of all qualia, and further denies intentionality as
an intrinsic feature of human minds.
As I've tried to explain to Stuart, eliminative materialism seems to me
motivated by a fear of the Cartesian ghost. Because they accept the Cartesian
categories, these philosophers believe they cannot acknowledge the obvious
irreducible reality of mental states without admitting a ghost into the
machine. So they go to great lengths to deny the obvious, then label those who
don't do the same "Cartesians".
-gts
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