Consciousness
Prof. Richard Heck has invited me to clarify my question #5466:
A fallacious invocation of the law of the excluded middle is precisely what I have been accused of in proposing my claim about subjective experience. In isolation it might not be obvious why my dichotomous claim is consistently dismissed. I think the dismissal is understandable the context in which I usually present the claim:
I begin by stating that if some but not all bodies experience their existence (majority perspective), and those that do develop physically from those that do not, then there must exist a moment before which such a body lacks subjective experience and after which it does not. This implies a spontaneous transformation requiring either a supernatural explanation or one in terms of physical theory.
Engaged respondents to my argument are consistent: they are uninterested in explaining this transformation; they reject my dichotomous claim; and they propose a gradual development from bodies that do not experience their existence to those that do. To the best of my reasoning, such a gradual development either has a beginning point in time, or there is no moment before which the body entirely lacks subjective experience. If I am mistaken in my reasoning I would like to understand. If I am not, I would like to know which philosophers have addressed the matter. If nobody has discussed it, I am confused as to why it is considered an unimportant matter, as it seems central to the above stated majority perspective.
Accepted:February 13, 2014
Accepted:
February 13, 2014