--- In [email protected], "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > In an article in the NY Times magazine today > > about the growing role that neuroscience is > > playing in law, Stephen J. Morse, professor > > of law and psychiatry at the University of > > Pennsylvania, is quoted as saying: > > > > "I'm a thoroughgoing materialist, who believes > > that all mental and behavioral activity is the > > causal product of physical events in the brain." > > > > Fair enough. But he's also quoted as follows: > > > > "Suppose neuroscience could reveal that reason > > actually plays no role in determining human > > behavior....Suppose I could show you that your > > intentions and your reasons for your actions > > are post hoc rationalizations that somehow > > your brain generates to explain to you what > > your brain has already done" without your > > conscious participation. > > > > Who is the "you" to whom the brain is > > purportedly offering this explaination? > > > > Who is the "you" who is not consciously > > participating in what the brain generates? > > > > Don't Morse's references to this mysterious > > "you" constitute an implicit recognition > > that there's *more* to mind than brain, > > contradicting his "thoroughgoing > > materialist" self-characterization? > > > > Maybe he was just speaking imprecisely to > > make a point. And "without your conscious > > participation" is the article writer's > > contribution, possibly a clumsy paraphrase > > of something Morse went on to say to clarify > > the quoted statement. > > > > But I'm intrigued. I've seen this sort of > > apparent contradiction from materialists > > before, as if some part of them *knew* there > > was a "you" that isn't encompassed by brain > > but had simply excluded it from their > > theorizing, only to let it slip out in > > unguarded moments. > > The "you" that he's referring to is the illusory > construct that ties all the different behaviors > and observations together.
But that would also be something the brain does, according to his first statement. I'm reminded of the story Francis Crick told, before he went over to the Dark Side, about the woman who told him she didn't understand what was so problematic about consciousness. He asked her what her mental image was of what went on in the brain, and she told him she imagined it was something like a little television set. "And who," he asked her, "is watching it?" He says she then saw the problem immediately. Morse has the television set all nailed down, but it hasn't yet occurred to him to wonder who's watching it.
