Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

[FreeTHinker4eva]

Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

mind is metaphysical.

 

[George-ananda]

Counsciousness is not a "product" of matter, it is an ACTIVITY of matter.

same difference....just word play

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

The "wave-particle duality" is part and parcel of the Copenhagen interpretation (a.k.a. the standard intepretation) of QM.

Haven't we covered this? First, the standard interpretation holds that quantum systems are irreducibly statistical and the "wave-like properties are probabilities that cannot and should not be understood as in any sense corresponding to a real system. Second, this is a carry-over from classical physics language, much like the fact that quantum systems can have momentum, only instead of a value momentum (like every observable) is an operator that acts on the mathematical entity that is the only system which can exist in QM according to the orthodox interpretation. How many more papers and monographs do i have to upload/attach and/or cite?

 

[Runewolf1973]

same difference....just word play

Agreed. The simple fact that it is something "of" matter means that it is physical, whether is a product of, or an activity of, or an emergent property of does not matter.

 

[jchristopher]

Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

It depends. If you mean "consciousness" as in the opposite of being unconscious or "knocked out," then I'd say it's physical (neurological). If referring to one's conscience or moral compass, then not physical.

 

[Runewolf1973]

It depends. If you mean "consciousness" as in the opposite of being unconscious or "knocked out," then I'd say it's physical (neurological). If referring to one's conscience or moral compass, then not physical.

But if one's conscience or moral compass affects their physical actions, then yes, it is physical. For something to affect a physical system, even a thought, it must in some way be physical. At least that's how I see it.

 

[jchristopher]

But if one's conscience or moral compass affects their physical actions, then yes, it is physical. For something to affect a physical system, even a thought, it must in some way be physical. At least that's how I see it.

I believe the ability to discern between right and wrong is an independent spiritual component (I can further explain why if needed). However, that spiritual component must interact with our minds in order to translate that knowledge into decision and physical action.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

The simple fact that it is something "of" matter means that it is physical, whether is a product of, or an activity of, or an emergent property of does not matter.

I think it does matter. Saying that consciousness is an emergent property of a central nervous system doesn't mean that it's identical with that central nervous system.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

I think it does matter. Saying that consciousness is an emergent property of a central nervous system doesn't mean that it's identical with that central nervous system.

Generally speaking, an emergent property is defined in some sense by the fact that it isn't identical with the parts that make it up (e.g., consciousness as an emergent property can't be identical or reduced to the neuronal activity that it emerges from).

 

[Runewolf1973]

[/QUOTE]

I believe the ability to discern between right and wrong is an independent spiritual component (I can further explain why if needed). However, that spiritual component must interact with our minds in order to translate that knowledge into decision and physical action.

I am an animist and I believe that anything we might label as "spiritual" is just another unexplained aspect of that which is entirely physical.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I think it does matter. Saying that consciousness is an emergent property of a central nervous system doesn't mean that it's identical with that central nervous system.

It doesn't need to be identical, nor do we need to entirely understand how it works for us to know that it is physical simply by default because it is derived from that which is physical.

 

[MD]

Well that is because I find your responses generally verbose, tangential and pointless - the best way to defend yourself against the accusation that you are misrepresenting me is simply to quote me directly rather than invent your 'interpretations'.

Everyone is wrong except you eh Bunyip? Even if there are experts in their fields.

Go join the YECs and CC deniers, you belong with them.

 

[Sapiens]

Consciousness is clearly a process, not a substance. It makes no sense to speak of it as physical or non-physical. It occurs as events happening in physical substances. That is not to say it is in any way supernatural.

Fire is a good analog. It too is a process that occurs in matter.

Fire is entirely a physical (chemical) process and is dependent completely upon matter.

 

[budha3]

Consciousness enters the brain, and energizes it. It's like plugging something into a wall socket to make it work.

 

[Sapiens]

No, it's a musical genre.

... and I'd thought it was the bottom of my foot all this time.

 

[Maranatha]

Consciousness doesn't appear to be possible without a physical framework to house it.

I'm not sure how we could ever know that?

Our human manifestation doesn't (as far as I'm aware!) provide the capability to identify or recognise consciousness outside of a physical framework, if it did exist.

PS.... I voted 'both'. It's a great question and one that I mainly draw on Buddhist nondualism ideas to think about.

 

[Robert Landbeck]

An emergent property of the physical, as distinct from the physical, just as the abstract is distinct from the real.

 

[Robert Landbeck]

Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

Whatever polls may say, it doesn't move us any closer to a resolving the question. But such a answer must begin with another question: what function was consciousness intended to play within the human condition? Certainly there could be no morality or conscience without the awareness of self that consciousness provides. Thus the only means to discover such an answer would require moral insight, knowledge not of human intellectual origin, perfectly objective to the human condition. What religion has historically failed to offer. But there is a group on the web I've come across who think they have discovered it? More at The Final Freedoms

 

[Im42nut2]

Is consciousness physical or nonphysical?

We are spiritual entities. As such, we are pure consciousness. But we (our consciousness) is isolated from the spirit and we reside in our brains. By doing so, we feel the hold on the body through muscle tension. This is the only thing that actually creates the 'physical'. And also by doing this we lose ~99% of our actual conscious awareness.

 

[Gambit]

And in the meantime, you haven't demonstrated that consciousness can be experienced without a brain. What's stopping you?

And you haven't furnished with any scientific evidence that consciousness is physical. What's stopping you?