Re: Causation/emergence LO3760

Jim Michmerhuizen (jamzen@world.std.com)
Sun, 19 Nov 1995 18:00:07 +0001 (EST)

Replying to LO3740 --

On Fri, 17 Nov 1995 kent_myers@smtplink.sra.com wrote:

> Explanations of emergence often demonize causation, but that's a
> dangerous rhetorical strategy. I came across the following
> explanation of causation, which I will commit to memory.
> It is from John R. Searle, "The Mystery of Consciousness (part 1)"
> NY Review of Books, 2 Nov 95. (Searle's two-part essay is essential
> for understanding the current debate on consciousness.)

Kent -

I used to believe something like what I believe Searle is trying to say
in the NYRB excerpt. I don't anymore.

I take the central proposition, in the excerpt, as "Lower-level processes
in the brain cause my present state of consciousness, but that state is
not a separate entity from my brain; rather it is just a feature of my
brain at the present time." This is preceded by an effort to show that we
may sometimes legitimately use cause-and-effect terminology in physical
situations in which the two are present concurrently rather than
sequentially, and even in situations where the cause can be only
_conceptually_ (not physically) separated from its effect. All that is
persuasive; in a sense, it removes objections; but it does nothing to
support the claim itself.

On the other hand, I'm still pretty close to this view. In a battle,
Searle and I would be fighting, I think, on the same side, but for
different reasons. I don't really see what's gained, if the world is as
Searle is trying to describe it, by using "cause-and-effect" language at
all. If the relationship is _that_ close (and I believe that it is), how
do we choose between saying
a) "brain processes cause my present state of consciousness"
and
b) "my present state of consciousness causes brain processes"

--
Regards
     Jim Michmerhuizen    jamzen@world.std.com
     web residence at     http://world.std.com/~jamzen/
...........................................................................
. . . . There are far *fewer* things in heaven and earth, Horatio,  . . . .
 . . . . .       than are dreamt of in your philosophy...        . . | _ .