Does Consciousness Exist? (By William James)

William James' wonderful 1904 essay "Does Consciousness Exist?" where he puts forward a kind of neutral monist view of the mind. This was read by D.E. Wittkower and is from LibriVox. The paper itself comes from William James' "Essays in Radical Empiricism", which was published posthumously in 1912. Note, this is a version of an upload from the previous channel. The audio has also been slightly edited and improved.
William James' next essay, "A World of Pure Experience", can be found here: • A World of Pure Experi...
#Philosophy #Consciousness #Mind

[@evinnra2779]

What a wonderful writer William James is! Thanks for this upload Philosophy Overdose.

[@danabarnett]

When I first read this essay it was like a lightning bolt from the heavens. I was struck by its penetrating acuity and eloquence in conjuring up the features of the experiential landscape in plain yet painterly language. Its radical inclusiveness in considering not just the waking cogito but all possible states of consciousness (dreams, imaginings, etc.) was a bold step forward for the philosophy of mind, leaving much of the previous work on the subject looking rather glib and slapdash by comparison. However, upon further reflection it's not entirely clear to me that James actually resolved the persistent thought / thing dilemma in a way that's genuinely satisfying, for all of the obvious advantages the neutral monist approach enjoys. It's a vaguely unsettling feeling, somewhat hard to pin down, and one that I am certainly not the first to express! Be that as it may, it's a glorious read for any student of philosophy, especially in light of subsequent developments toward contemporary eliminativism à la Daniel Dennett, which to my mind suffers from so many gaps and inconsistencies that I cannot take it very seriously as a supposed "resolution" to the centuries-old problem of consciousness. What philosophy needs today is something like a new kind of Humanism, one that places the incredible richness and variety of lived experience at the center of study, much like James did over a century ago. We seem to have lost our way a little in this technology-saturated era as we develop ever more precise maps of our world but have yet to come to terms with just what, precisely, it is we're looking at: a paradox for the ages, no doubt! Thanks for sharing!!

[@roygbiv176]

Good points, agreed 👍

[@roygbiv176]

Could have benefited from some paragraphs though.

[@tomasomaonaigh7659]

Mind over matter.
I don't mind,
You dont matter.
I'll see myself out.

[@HalTuberman]

A very nice analysis.

[@languagegame410]

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND!!!!!... gimmegimmemoremore... i just got clean... and i'm ready to overdose again!!!