tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post7293586326322153098..comments2024-03-28T19:56:42.305-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Consciousness in transitionsAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-48094245034931116242017-10-13T13:50:26.858-05:002017-10-13T13:50:26.858-05:00Correction: When I said "conscious that X&quo...Correction: When I said "conscious that X", I meant "conscious OF X". An elk is conscious OF predators in the area.Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-32706768448145119482017-10-13T13:47:59.223-05:002017-10-13T13:47:59.223-05:00This is an interesting point. I do wonder though i...This is an interesting point. I do wonder though if functionalism can possibly be worth pursuing if it can (even conceivably) incline us to think that consciousness is due to computation.... I think any view that says the difference between a conscious animal and an animal rendered unconscious is whether it's engaged in computation (or, presumably, its brain is engaged in such... though that's even more problematic, since brains don't engage in computation at all) is a view that will transgress the bounds of sense. It will be nonsense.<br /><br />Or, if you don't mean "conscious" as in "not asleep" or "not rendered unconscious", then perhaps you mean "to be conscious that X". But then that is clearly a matter of having one's attention caught and held by X or to factor X into one's deliberations or to be aware of X. None of these meanings have anything to do with computation, nor are they the sorts of things that brains can meaningfully be said to do.<br /><br />I really don't see how any progress at all will be made on the matter of consciousness until we realize that it is animal organisms which are conscious (in both senses: "not unconscious" and "conscious of X"); not their brains or souls or minds or any other such thing. Once we get that right, then we won't wonder about computation (since it's rather clear that an elk cannot compute and yet it can become very conscious of a predator in the vicinity).Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.com