WARNING: Long post to follow. Read at your own risk
I am aware that what I will say here is controversial, but I would like to give my own opinion on this subject, which is a favorite of mine :lol: . I see that some individuals in this thread were wondering about any books, etc, that discuss this stuff well - so I'll include a handful references in the course of trying to support my views on the subject, and hopefully they will be of interest to someone. I hope by listing these references I don't come off as pretentious...B/c this can be a controversial topic, and b/c perhaps a bit of this might seem "fringe-y" to some, my intentions are only to provide rational support for what I say.
I do not believe materialist reductionism can account for consciousness and perhaps some other mental phenomena. I think there are philosophical (analytic), empirical, and phenomenological/ experiential arguments in favor of some kind of non-reductive view of consciousness. By non-reductive, I mean a view that takes some central aspect of mind or consciousness as at least fundamental in its own right, and at most perhaps more fundamental than physics, in some way. In other words, mind or consciousness is more than the result of high level emergent functional properties of the brain. There is - perhaps surprisingly - a good deal of converging lines of evidence that cumulatively support such views. This does not mean that the brain doesn’t have anything to do with mind - it clearly plays an important role in mental processes, and there are lawful correlations between certain forms of mental activity and brain activity. But of course, this does not entail that mind and brain are identical. Any respectable theory of the mind or consciousness must take seriously and be able to accommodate the findings of neuroscientific research.
I do think that more and more of science and western analytic philosophy is beginning to at least take seriously the above position. For instance, in the mid 1990’s with the publication of some seminal works in philosophy by David Chalmers and other like-minded thinkers, there arose an increased interest in pursuing non-reductive theories of consciousness in academic philosophy, and this has slowly but steadily continued since, even branching out and influencing the thought of certain scientists. The mid 1990’s also saw the start of the biennial “Toward A Science of Consciousness” conferences, which features a multitude of rigorous, diverse discussions on theories of consciousness (both reductive and non-reductive) from a broadly interdisciplinary perspective.
Recently, there been a number of academic books published in the philosophy of the mind on a particular subset of views known as panpsychism and Russellian monism (aka neutral or dual aspect monism). This form of monism takes mind and matter to be two sides of the same coin, together unified at some more fundamental, deeper level. It's a view associated with Bertrand Russell, William James, Alfred North Whitehead, Henri Bergson, David Bohm, and more recently with David Chalmers, Galen Strawson, David Ray Griffin, Philip Goff, Neil Theise, etc. (Interestingly, two of the most prolific “mainstream” neuroscientists - Christoff Koch and Giulio Tononi - have recently tentatively embraced a version of panpsychism which they call “Integrated Information Theory”.)
Some of my favorite books that discuss these views and the arguments for them, from the perspective of analytic philosophy, are the following:
- David Chalmers 1996, 2010: “The Conscious Mind,” “The Character of Consciousness”
- Godehard Bruentrup and Ludwig Jaskolla et al. 2016: “Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives” - a collection papers from multiple contributors.
- Michael Blamauer et al. 2011: “The Mental As Fundamental” - a collection.
- David Skrbina et al. 2009: “Mind That Abides: Panpsychism in the New Millennium” - collection.
- Robert Koons and George Bealer et al.: “The Waning of Materialism” - collection.
There is also a rich empirical side of support for these perspectives. Some of this comes from what has been referred to as “Psi” research, aka laboratory parapsychology - scientific investigation into purported "extended mental capacities", or so-called ESP. Now, it is very difficult to talk about such topics seriously without being derided and branded as a "quack" - for many, these are dirty words (although this may be changing too). This is an unfortunate consequence of the fact that the caliber of the research, and the results of studies in this area (a number of which have been published in mainstream journals), are virtually unknown by the general population, and by the majority of academia as well. Within the past 20-30 years there has been a large number studies published by many independent labs and investigators across the globe (employing various experimental paradigms) that have overall demonstrated robust effects that are modestly replicable and that have held up to scrutiny even as the controls have tightened and the experiments have become more and more rigorous. These results carry highly significant implications for our understanding of the consciousness, and strongly suggest that certain mental processes contain at least partially an objectively quantifiable ingredient that extends beyond the boundaries of a person's sensory system and psychological makeup as ordinarily conceived. There are a many books and discussions on these experiments - such as those written by Dean Radin. Two of the best, most thorough, and up-to-date books are the following collections, written by numerous contributors - proponents and detractors - who are active researchers, and containing detailed summaries of the various forms of evidence.
- Etzel Cardena, John Palmer, and David Marcussen-Clavertz et al. 2015: “Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century.”
- Edwin May and Marwaha et al: 2015: “Extrasensory Perception: Support Skepticism and Science.” - 2 volumes.
Also see:
- Damien Broderick and Ben Goertzel et al. 2014: "Evidence For Psi: Thirteen Empirical Research Reports."
- James Carpenter 2015: "First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Everyday Life"
- Dean Radin 1997, 2006, 2013: "The Conscious Universe"; "Entangled Minds"; "Supernormal."
- Stanley Krippner and Harris Friedman et al. 2009: "Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People."
- Chris Carter 2007: "Parapsychology and the Skeptics: A Scientific Argument for the Existence of ESP."
{ EDIT: Here is another resource on this kind of evidence, provided below. The following link contains a list of roughly 100 or so peer-reviewed scientific studies on psi research, compiled and pdf-linked for accessibility by psychologist and researcher Dean Radin. While browsing through said list, it's very important to keep in mind the following: Over the past century, a myriad of experimental protocols have been employed to research different theoretical constructs broadly falling under the rubric of "psi research" - however, not all protocols have fared as well as others (as one might expect), and this is reflected in Radin's list. For example, the research into "distant healing" by way of "intercessory prayer" (which is not really within purview of "psi research", but is nevertheless included by Radin his compilation) has tended not to produce strong or overall consistent results. Other protocols or paradigms (in fact most others) have been far more successful, evidence-wise. Here's the link:
http://deanradin.com/evidence/evidence.htm }
Two additional highly relevant books published in the past decade also tackle the empirical, and theoretical, side of things from a wide angle. Written mostly by researchers at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies, the books discuss several different avenues of research and thought - mostly coming from the clinical literature - that they argue serve to seriously challenge the current materialist perspectives in psychology. The first book (which is around 800 pages) for example, contains painstakingly detailed and rigorous discussions of developments in philosophy of the mind, extreme examples of psychophysiological influence, memory, “automatisms and secondary centers of consciousness”, the near death experience and related phenomena, genius (e.g., savantism), mystical experience, and psychedelics. It also contains appendices with many references to books and publications that discuss other relevant consciousness-related phenomena. The second book came out a year ago, and is attempt to get a grip on the theoretical underpinnings of consciousness and said phenomena. Two extremely interesting books.
- Edward Kelly et al. 2009: "Irreducible Mind" - again, a collection from multiple contributors.
- Edward Kelly et al. 2015: "Beyond Physicalism" - collection.
Relatedly, the recent book "Transcendent Mind: Rethinking the Science of Consciousness," by psychologists Julia Mossbridge and Imants Baruss, 2016, proceeds in a very similar vein as the above, mounting an empirical argument for the incompleteness of materialism with regards to the mind.
I've already written way too much - but, as you can guess, the "experiential" aspect of this includes many of the things that are written about here on The Nexus (that is, the phenomenology of psychedelic, meditative and mystical experiences). First-person experience may be the most convincing kind of support for anyone that has undergone such experiences themselves. Direct experience or "gnosis" is very powerful, indeed (it has been for me at least!) It is quite hard to go back to one's previous, ordinary ways of thinking about reality after one has undergone a paradigm-shattering psychedelic, meditative, or mystical experience.
- Psychologists David Luke, Benny Shanon, Stanislav Grof, Rick Strassman, neuroscientist Andrew Gallimore, and anthropologist Michael Harner, have discussed in various places the implications of certain psychedelic experiences for understanding the mind in relation to the brain. For example, Shanon's book, "Antipodes of the Mind", on the phenomenology of ayahuasca, is a classic - he argues therein that the cross-personal and mystical-like experiences induced by the substance warrant an expansion of the boundaries of mainstream cognitive psychology. On the other hand, philosophers like W.T. Stace, Paul Marshall, Ken Wilber, Randall Studstill, Robert Forman, William James and Frederick H. Meyers, have emphasized the implications of mystical experiences proper for our understanding of mind and reality, arguing for a broadly trans-personal view of the psyche. There is also some recent neurobiological evidence suggesting that the brain functions, in some respects, as a filter or a "limiter" of certain aspects of mind and consciousness - this could provide further support for these perspectives. I wrote about some of this research here
Recent EEG research (finally!) on effects of smoked nn-DMT and 5-Meo-DMT - with discussion. - Science - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus .
So i apologize for any sloppiness.
