On 6/26/2018 2:32 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
On 25 June 2018 at 19:54, Brent Meeker <[email protected]> wrote:
On 6/25/2018 8:06 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
I don't think that's the case. C seems to me to be capable to explaining
anything (e.g. we're living in the Matrix). The theories of M are certainly
incomplete, but if there is empirical data inconsistent with those theories
it just shows they have limited domain. If there is empirical data that is
impossible to include in M how would we know; how could we be sure that it
could not be included?
I don't see how that fact that I am conscious and have a first person
experience of reality could be explained by M.
I suggest you should think about what you accept as good explanations of
other phenomenon.
I gave several examples before, regarding emergentist explanations.
Suppose that Darwinian theory has not been discovered, and we have the
following conversation:
T: Where does life come from?
B: Ah, well, it emerges from chemistry.
T: Fine, how does that work?
B: I told you, it emerges from chemistry. What kind of explanation
were you expecting?
I don't think Darwin had anything to do with discovering the chemical
basis of life, which I suppose is what you meant put in the future of
the exchange.
If you take Thomas Kuhn's ideas seriously, then consciousness seems to
be the current sticking point that is likely to trigger the next
paradigm shift. The exercise we've been through is one where you
insist that what Kuhn refers to as "normal science" can eventually
crack the problem, while I insist that it cannot. This sort of thing
happened before, it's not new.
Did Newton explain gravity? Did Einstein? Are you satisfied with the
chemical explanation of life?
I don't think there's anything "normal" or "extra-normal" in science.
There is good science and better science; and they are measured by how
comprehensive, accurate, and predictive they are.
Brent
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