To call the problem of the unity of consciousness the “bundling problem” is misleading: it gives the impression that that what we sometimes call "consciousness" is a cluster of ideas or thoughts that have mysteriously been yoked together. A better metaphor would be the “electromagnetic problem”: that is, the problem of how what from the outside appears to be two very different things is really both at once, always inseparable yet always distinct from each other? What is true of electricity and magnetism is true in many ways of consciousness, e.g., of desire and cognition.
Here is a summary and comments on the essay Freedom and Resentment by PF Strawson. He makes some great points, and when he is wrong, it is in such a way as to clarify things a great deal. My non-deterministic position is much better thanks to having read this. I’ll summarize it in this post and respond in a later one. In a nutshell: PFS first argues that personal resentment that we may feel toward another for having failed to show goodwill toward us would have no problem coexisting with the conviction that determinism is true. Moral disapprobation, as an analog to resentment, is likewise capable of coexisting with deterministic convictions. In fact, it would seem nearly impossible for a normally-constituted person (i.e., a non-sociopath) to leave behind the web of moral convictions, even if that person is a determinist. In this way, by arguing that moral and determinist convictions can coexist in the same person, PFS undermines the libertarian argument ...
Comments