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Originally Posted by whoguy423
Hi all,
I couldn't help myself, but see some discussion about the evolution of consciousness.
The problem that I'm having with the discussion in regard to the aforementioned point is.... What is the definition of consciousness?
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There isn't one which is not entirely circular (e.g. "consciousness is subjective experience.") The word "consciousness" could only mean what we use to mean by being given a
private ostensive definition i.e. we "internally point" to our own conscious experiences and associate them with the word "consciousness." We then assume other people experience something similar and call it the same thing.
Ludwig Wittgenstein famously claimed the above was impossible, although it's not quite as simple as that.
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In quantum mechanics, there definitely is some decision at play here as determined by who the observer is!
1. Does the pebble have adequate consciousness to be the observer?
2. Does the one who measures and observes the route of the pebble determine it's course?
3. Does any of it really matter is all things are ONE unified consciousness anyway?
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Whether or not animals (and which animals) are conscious does matter. Or at least it does if we care about the potential for animals to suffer.