What Is Thinking? – The New York Review of Books

Is mind a unique quality of human beings or spread out in the universe? What do we actually know about consciousness, memory and perception that would withstand the scrutiny of philosophers and neuroscientists? Here are some of the thoughts of Riccardo Manzotti, the philosopher, psychologist and robotics engineer.

Key Takeaways:

• I have now suggested to him that we condense our conversations into a series of focused dialogues to set out the standard positions on consciousness, and suggest some alternatives.
• An easy way to think about it would be pain. Instinctively we all agree that feeling a pain is something. It’s an experience.
• The truth is that we do not know what consciousness is. That’s why we’re talking about it as a problem.

“For most people “consciousness” will have various meanings and include awareness, self-awareness, thinking in language. But for philosophers and neuroscientists the crucial meaning is that of feeling something, having a feeling you might say, or an experience.”

Read the full article here: What Is Thinking? – The New York Review of Books

~Comments always welcome…

Reference:

• Nybooks.com