But...what IS consciousness?

[minionmolly]

Caitlin and I were just looking at each other, trying to have a psychic conversation like we usually do in classes together, and we were failing due to complete COMPREHENSIVE BANDWIDTH DEPLETION. Intro to philosophy, even through the lens of Star Trek, is THE MOST OVERWHELMING CLASS, with the possible exception of higher level philosophy classes

Comments

[trainerjonathan]

An illusion, a fiction, that is essential to human interaction?

[minionmolly]

I DON'T UNDERSTAND. At least with religious studies, we eventually get to faith and belief and other happy things that please people and give meaning to their lives. Will I get to meaning in philosophy? Or is philosophy just another religion, wherein the followers seek meaning through their deductive and inductive powers and are constantly stymied?

GAHHHHHH MY BRAIN.

[minionmolly]

Yes, you're probably right. Will the other philosophers break my brain as much as Descartes?

[trainerjonathan]

Not sure. Descartes is reacting strongly against the religious philosophers that came before him, and is important in the history of philosophy to understand what other writers are reacting against, but I'm not sure which parts of his philosophy are breaking your brain, so it's tough to say if later philosophers will patch it up or break it further....

[trainerjonathan]

Descartes thinks that consciousness is this unitary thing (which he never specifically calls a soul), but later philosophers point out that this is horse-shit: people are made of all kinds of conflicting impulses.

Also, I found it useful in philosophy class to assume that any wacky nonsense a given philosopher was spouting was actually supposed to be interpreted as metaphor.