Ye Ole Scientistic Bias of SciAm

October 4, 2007 By Tom

I was just looking at the cover of the October issue of Scientific American, sitting here on my desk, and was intrigued by this metaphysically loaded cover line:

CONSCIOUSNESS
Scientists Debate How
Neurons Make Us Aware

Now, does that cover line even make sense in a materialistic framework? How neurons make “us” aware? Are “we” the physical body? Is the body separate from the neurons? And if the neurons are making the body aware, then what, exactly, is aware of the neurons? Consciousness? What is that? And what does it have to do with “us”? Hmm… :)

Ah, the performative contradiction strikes again. Scientific materialism isn’t even internally consistent, let alone consistent with the rest of reality. (The contradiction, in simplest form, via Ken Wilber: Scientism holds that all conscious experience is simply a byproduct of neurological activity, and that this should be considered a true statement. But if that statement is itself a product of conscious experience, then it is self-denying. Because there is nothing “true” or “false” at the level of neurological activity; there is simply neurological activity. So if scientism is true, then it cannot be true.)

I have no sympathy for the devil of our age.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. ned on November 23, 2007 4:06 pm

    It brings to mind the adage from Kashmir Shaivism that says that for a conscious being to deny his consciousness is like using your tongue to say that you can’t speak. Great post. And I love that quote from Ken Wilber!

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