Summary This post lays out some problems/uncertainties I have with various stances in the philosophy of mind, almost all of which implicitly or explicitly privilege âcommon senseâ. The main point is that our intuitions arenât shaped to be useful at finding out whether something actually experiences/experiences things in a particular way. Instead, those intuitions are strongly influenced by (1) the evolutionary need to navigate ancestral social environments and (2) what your culture believes - which I argue donât necessarily have much to do with the truth of the matter....
Introduction Brian Tomasik has written a lot of essays on reducing suffering. In this post, Iâve picked out my favorites. If youâre thinking about reading his work, this list could be a good place to start. Note that this is based on what I personally find interesting; it is not a definitive guide. These are listed in no particular order. Dissolving Confusion about Consciousness Consciousness is a âcluster in thingspaceâ comprising physical systems that we consider to be similar in some way....
Disclaimer: This post concerns epistemology rather than ontology. Claims are not about what âseemingly physics-independentâ phenomena exist, and how they are, but rather concern how we form ideas about such things. Summary Our brains, as physical objects, physically create and utilize various concepts - including seemingly âphysics-independentâ concepts such as morality, selfhood, and the sentience of others. Their physical origins cast doubt on whether these physically-formed, âseemingly physics-independentâ concepts truly reflect corresponding supposedly ânon-physicalâ realities....