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Consciousness and the Paranormal — Part 8
- Thread starter Gene Steinberg
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smcder
Paranormal Adept
I am listening to lecture 6 now:
You can navigate from there, though.
The above link, in your post, did work for me, so it may be another issue?
smcder
Paranormal Adept
I had not of that. I came across this today at work, from one of my favorite books:
El perezoso (de Pablo Neruda)
Continuarán viajando cosas
de metal entre las estrellas,
subirán hombres extenuados,
violentarán la suave luna
y allí fundarán sus farmacias.
The rest of the poem and translation to come.
S
smcder
Paranormal Adept
"Lazybones" - Pablo Neruda
They will continue wandering,
these things of steel among the stars,
and weary men will still go up
to brutalize the placid moon.
There, they will found their pharmacies.
In this time of the swollen grape,
the wine begins to come to life
between the sea and the mountain ranges.
In Chile now, cherries are dancing,
the dark mysterious girls are singing,
and in guitars, water is shining.
The sun is touching every door
and making wonder of the wheat.
The first wine is pink in colour,
is sweet with the sweetness of a child,
the second wine is able-bodied,
strong like the voice of a sailor,
the third wine is a topaz, is
a poppy and fire in one.
My house has both the sea and the earth,
my woman has great eyes
the colour of wild hazelnut,
when night comes down, the sea
puts on a dress of white and green,
and later the moon in the spindrift foam
dreams like a sea-green girl.
I have no wish to change my planet.
Thank you!!! Neruda is a brilliant and moving poet. I have a book of his poetry in one of these boxes, from my last move eight years ago and still boxed since my most recent move four months ago, and I am now intent on finding it.
smcder
Paranormal Adept
I'll send you info on the book I have.
I'm listening to Lecture 7 on the placebo effect:
Placebo effect on pain is a constant regardless of the Rx. If you think you're getting aspirin, it's 56% as effective. If you think you're getting morphine, it's 56% as effective as morphine. Half-life and other pharmacological effects mirror the actual drug.
Review extract:
". . . The other bizarre curiosity is that lab results strongly suggest that they [octopuses/octopi?] are colorblind. Something within the nervous system that is not visual ignites the instantaneous processes that allow the color change and body morphing. He examines this through two different operations of the nervous systems one in [of] which is the taking of sensory cues from the environment with the innate motor skills respond[ing] like autonomic reactions. The other is a simpler stimulus response action based on what occurs on the spot like the flight or fight response.
In this discussion he cited other philosophers of consciousness to remind us that interpretation involves a lot of questions. There is nothing certain and plenty that may be probable. In efforts to describe animal behavior from a non-anthropomorphic perspective, the observer may not always see the forest for the trees. Yet we are thrust into a situation where it is difficult to understand information and the processing of it from other than a human perspective. We also have to treat information as a physical thing-something to be measured. Is it? Or is it reducible to a binomial sort of impulse and response an immediate (and evolutionarily adaptive) reaction? This is a debated question amongst those examining what is meant by “consciousness”. In fact it remains sort of a Gordian knot and there are dualists who consider that consciousness is made up of a “functional” quality which is the 1s and 0s of binomial information. It also has a “phenomenal” essence that involves the interpretational or conscious experience. The former is said to control behavior and the latter simply is consciousness. It is these sort of issues that the author proposes not to find concrete answers but to ask additional questions.
Godfrey-Smith ponders hard on the notion of consciousness saying “It’s sometimes hard to work out how these theories relate to my own target here: subjective experience in a very broad sense. I treat subjective experience as a broad category and consciousness as a narrower category within it— not everything that an animal might feel has to be conscious.” More important than defining consciousness, the author provides much to consider and the reader can take advantage of that. . . . ."
Text sample at amazon:
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness: 9780374227760: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com
"If this is philosophy, it works, because Godfrey-Smith is a rare philosopher who searches the world for clues. Knowledgeable and curious, he examines, he admires. His explorations are good-natured. He is never dogmatic, yet startlingly incisive." ―Carl Safina, The New York Times Book Review
"A philosopher of science and experienced deep-sea diver, Godfrey-Smith has rolled his obsessions into one book, weaving biology and philosophy into a dazzling pattern that looks a lot like the best of pop science. He peppers his latest book with vivid anecdotes from his cephalopod encounters . . . [and] relates dramatic stories of mischief made by captive octopuses . . . [but] his project is no less ambitious than to work out the evolutionary origins of subjective experience . . . The result is an incredibly insightful and enjoyable book." ―Meehan Crist, The Los Angeles Times
"[Other Minds is] a terrific mix of Cousteau-esque encounters with [cephalopods] in the wild . . . wide-ranging scientific discussion, and philosophical analysis. Beautifully written, thought-provoking, and bold, this book is the latest, and most closely argued, salvo in the debate over whether octopuses and other cephalopods are intelligent, sentient beings." ―Olivia Judson, The Atlantic
"A smoothly written and captivating account of the octopus and its brethren . . . [Godfrey-Smith] stresses their dissimilarity to us and other mammals, but he also wants us to appreciate what we have in common . . . Mr. Godfrey-Smith mixes the scientific with the personal, giving us lively descriptions of his dives to 'Octopolis,' a site off the east coast of Australia at which octopuses gather." ―Colin McGinn, The Wall Street Journal
Philpapers links to papers by Godfrey-Smith: Works by Peter Godfrey-Smith - PhilPapers
One of particular relevance in our discussions here:
Models and Fictions in Science
Peter Godfrey-Smith, Harvard University
Philosophical Studies 143 (2009): 101-1 Peter Godfrey-Smith (2009). Models and Fictions in Science. Philosophical Studies 143 (1):101 - 116.
Abstract: Non-actual model systems discussed in scientific theories are compared to fictions in literature. This comparison may help with the understanding of similarity relations between models and real-world target systems. The ontological problems surrounding fictions in science may be particularly difficult, however. A comparison is also made to ontological problems that arise in the philosophy of mathematics.
Extract:
"One way to look at the situation is as a new problem posed by modality for the philosophy of science – or a new perspective on "the" problem of modality in science. For an earlier philosophy of science the problem looked like this: what we have access to and can talk about is an array of empirical particulars. How can we possibly have knowledge about the ways in which these empirical particulars are tied together in laws? The problem in this paper, in contrast, starts from the fact that one part of science spends much energy engaging in the description of elaborate fictions. But somehow this helps us get a handle on other things, including empirical particulars. The problem is understanding how we go from apparent knowledge of what seem very dubious modal facts – about how fictional systems behave – to knowledge of how things work in the real world.
So far I have looked at a two-way comparison between scientific and literary fictions. The problem can be made more vivid by adding another comparison, yielding a three-way analogy.
The situation with model-based science is analogous to one found in the philosophy of mathematics. It is sometimes said that all practicing mathematicians are platonists, a comment associated with Paul Bernays (1935). This is not suppposed to be a claim about the mathematicians' overt self-conception or ideology, but about the implicit ontology guiding their work: mathematical research is conducted as investigation of real objects in an abstract realm. Let us suppose for purposes of illustration that this is true, that an implicitly platonist outlook is a feature of successful mathematical practice – in Weisberg's terms again, that platonism is the folk ontology of research mathematics.
As before, it is a different task to look at the practice from outside, and describe what the work actually achieves. When we do this, we apply our all-things-considered ontology. We need not be platonists. We might be – we might be made so, perhaps grudgingly, by the role of mathematics in science (Quine 1948, 1960). 7 But we might instead give a deflationary view (Field 1980 & 1989, Yablo 2005). That means that we have to give an account of the real achievements of the field that does not use the ontology embodied in the practice. Though mathematicians are wrong to be platonists, they succeed in discovering important things nonetheless. 7 . . . . ."
7. "In a contest for sheer systematic utility to science, the notion of physical object still leads the field. On this score alone, therefore, one might still put a premium on explanations that appeal to physical objects and not to abstract ones, even if abstract objects be grudgingly admitted too for their efficacy elsewhere in the theory." (Quine 1960, p. 238)
One of particular relevance in our discussions here:
Models and Fictions in Science
Peter Godfrey-Smith, Harvard University
Philosophical Studies 143 (2009): 101-1 Peter Godfrey-Smith (2009). Models and Fictions in Science. Philosophical Studies 143 (1):101 - 116.
Abstract: Non-actual model systems discussed in scientific theories are compared to fictions in literature. This comparison may help with the understanding of similarity relations between models and real-world target systems. The ontological problems surrounding fictions in science may be particularly difficult, however. A comparison is also made to ontological problems that arise in the philosophy of mathematics.
Extract:
"One way to look at the situation is as a new problem posed by modality for the philosophy of science – or a new perspective on "the" problem of modality in science. For an earlier philosophy of science the problem looked like this: what we have access to and can talk about is an array of empirical particulars. How can we possibly have knowledge about the ways in which these empirical particulars are tied together in laws? The problem in this paper, in contrast, starts from the fact that one part of science spends much energy engaging in the description of elaborate fictions. But somehow this helps us get a handle on other things, including empirical particulars. The problem is understanding how we go from apparent knowledge of what seem very dubious modal facts – about how fictional systems behave – to knowledge of how things work in the real world.
So far I have looked at a two-way comparison between scientific and literary fictions. The problem can be made more vivid by adding another comparison, yielding a three-way analogy.
The situation with model-based science is analogous to one found in the philosophy of mathematics. It is sometimes said that all practicing mathematicians are platonists, a comment associated with Paul Bernays (1935). This is not suppposed to be a claim about the mathematicians' overt self-conception or ideology, but about the implicit ontology guiding their work: mathematical research is conducted as investigation of real objects in an abstract realm. Let us suppose for purposes of illustration that this is true, that an implicitly platonist outlook is a feature of successful mathematical practice – in Weisberg's terms again, that platonism is the folk ontology of research mathematics.
As before, it is a different task to look at the practice from outside, and describe what the work actually achieves. When we do this, we apply our all-things-considered ontology. We need not be platonists. We might be – we might be made so, perhaps grudgingly, by the role of mathematics in science (Quine 1948, 1960). 7 But we might instead give a deflationary view (Field 1980 & 1989, Yablo 2005). That means that we have to give an account of the real achievements of the field that does not use the ontology embodied in the practice. Though mathematicians are wrong to be platonists, they succeed in discovering important things nonetheless. 7 . . . . ."
7. "In a contest for sheer systematic utility to science, the notion of physical object still leads the field. On this score alone, therefore, one might still put a premium on explanations that appeal to physical objects and not to abstract ones, even if abstract objects be grudgingly admitted too for their efficacy elsewhere in the theory." (Quine 1960, p. 238)
Pharoah
Paranormal Adept
@Constance et al.
Very interesting radio programme on Hannah Arendt, particularly regarding Heideggar, Being and totalitarianism.
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Hannah Arendt
Very interesting radio programme on Hannah Arendt, particularly regarding Heideggar, Being and totalitarianism.
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Hannah Arendt
smcder
Paranormal Adept
It's a good series ... I think I've heard this one ... but I'll listen again.
Pharoah
Paranormal Adept
It's a new one
smcder
Paranormal Adept
Downloading now!
smcder
Paranormal Adept
Here is a link to a large collection of Neruda's poetry online. The more one reads of this poet the more one wants to read.
Neruda, Pablo (1904–1973) - Selected Poetry in Translation
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smcder
Paranormal Adept
How Hannah Arendt Is Being Used and Misused in the Age of Trump
"Hannah Arendt, who wrote extensively about authoritarianism, the nature of evil, and power, is having a bit of a moment.
Currently circulating the internet (my twitter feed, at least) are two interesting articles regarding the Jewish philosopher’s legacy. First, we haveZoe Williams’ piece for The Guardian, “Totalitarianism in the age of Trump: Lessons from Hannah Arendt.” "
"Hannah Arendt, who wrote extensively about authoritarianism, the nature of evil, and power, is having a bit of a moment.
Currently circulating the internet (my twitter feed, at least) are two interesting articles regarding the Jewish philosopher’s legacy. First, we haveZoe Williams’ piece for The Guardian, “Totalitarianism in the age of Trump: Lessons from Hannah Arendt.” "
Thanks for these interesting links. Btw, been meaning to say how much I like that line at the bottom of your posts --
‘Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.’ - William James
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