{Materialism and Idealism: The Nature of Mind}[19th June 1988]

[Redbook5:178-179][19880619:1707h]{Materialism and Idealism: The Nature of Mind}[19^th June 1988]

19880619.1707

[continued]

The Materialist v. Idealist argument re the nature of Mind: if it became possible to 'hook up' a computer to a living brain in such a way that not only all conscious but all unconscious operations of the mind were simultaneously shown in terms both of the biological workings associated with them and their meaning (actual or potential) to the individual whose brain it was* – then the materialist argument might be difficult to refute. But the flaw in this supposition is the suggestion that the whole unconscious operation of the mind has meaning, before it manifests itself in the conscious mind, which can be decoded, and comprehended by the individual concerned or anyone else; and if not, if there are some areas of the operation of the unconscious mind which give rise to meaning but have no comprehensible meaning themselves, the question would still be wide open.

Similarly, if at any stage meaningful mind operation was associated with meaningless (e.g. random) brain function – just as in the previous example meaningful mind operation is associated with meaningless (i.e. incomprehensible) mind operation – the idealist would be able to counter the materialist's assertion that mind is simply the result of brain.

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If the materialist could in theory link the entire life-thought of an individual from conception to death logically in terms of both brain-function and mind-meaning in this way, it would be difficult to refute the contention that mind-meaning was an 'illusion' produced by brain-function – difficult to refute it on the materialists' terms. Many other questions about meaning and experience would still remain open, of course; and the idealists' view would still not be refuted; it would, however, seem to be without proof.

*-- and if all the meanings could be accounted for logically in terms of meaning or biologically and psychologically related brain function –

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