The Fourth Week

There wasn’t as many as usual. 

In fact, there were only two of the usual people.

I gave a recap on where we’d journeyed so far and talked briefly about night terrors and consciousness.

(Person A)  asked the question: when I say consciousness did I mean awareness. 

In an attempt to be helpful (Person B) addressed the question with reference to John Locke: that one of the components of Personhood was awareness. 

(A) said something about Locke which I didn’t quite catch. Something to the effect that Locke was able to resolve an issue to do with consciousness  But (A) said it wasn’t helpful starting with the self and that we are always set in relation to others and that is the more important issue. It was not helpful being self-referential about consciousness because it doesn’t get us anywhere. I agreed with the point. However I worried a little because it was important that we move only as quickly as the points were raised by the group, not to dismiss questions of consciousness, no matter what we thought about them. THe task is to take the time to let the questions wear themselves out by unravelling them thoroughly. 

In light of that last point, I explained that we had journeyed to this point on the basis of (….’s)(the individual was not present)  initial question: the thing about the chicken. The barrier that exists between civility and barbarism. He seemed to have a presupposition that it wouldn’t take much to tip us over the edge and expose the reality that civility is an illusion and it wouldn’t take much to demonstrate that we were really just animals.

In response to reflecting on the first weeks discussion I said I disagreed and could think of many examples where people had acted in a counter intuitive way. The stories of the concentration camps demonstrate this. Namely: attempting to put yourself in a bid to save yourself is actually self destructive. Putting yourself in a place of service is redemptive. We are wired as human beings to be in community. It is the basis of ethics. We have to live together.  We must address the factors that undermine the success of that.

Then (and I’m not entirely sure if this is the order of events) I said I was once again in some conflict. This place was where people could ask any question. Cards on the table: I’m a Christian that believes that relationship with God and participation in the Body of Christ was key to life. My end point is to see us participate in that. I see this in the Apostle Paul when he prays:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened l, in order that you may see the hope, together in all the saints.

The meeting we are having is open to everyone, regardless of their convictions and my hope is that the Socratic position can be pursued: 

The correctness of a statement cannot...be determined by whether is is held by a majority or has been believed for a long time by important people. A correct statement is one incapable of being rationally contradicted. A statement is true if it cannot be disproved. If it can, however many believe it, however grand they may be, it must be false and we are right to doubt it.        

Alain de Botton  "Consolations for Unpopularity"

The Consolations of Philosophy. 

The truth, insofar as it can ever be known, is that which cannot be disproved.

Thus, if we are careful and thorough, truth will ultimately be revealed. 

I’m pretty sure (person C) then bought us back to the question of consciousness by offering a thought experiment in which he suggested that if our eyes were on a table on the other side of the room, (it’s a thought experiment in which the eyes work) where would our consciousness be? Over on the table or in our head. It demonstrates to me the illusion of presence.

I raised that the key point was if we could demonstrate that philosophy and science was suggesting that there’s a ‘gap’ - in experiments there was clear examples of thought that weren’t occurring in a monitored way. Dennet vs Chalmers again. 

(the meeting went on some time after this – however I have not made a record of it)