From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!generic.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!gatech!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!dkuug!diku!kurt Tue Nov 19 11:08:47 EST 1991
Article 1172 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: kurt@diku.dk (Kurt M. Alonso)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: MIND, BRAIN, CONCIOUSNESS
Message-ID: <1991Oct31.123035.20723@odin.diku.dk>
Date: 31 Oct 91 12:30:35 GMT
References: <1991Oct29.214816.23349@timessqr.gc.cuny.edu> <37577@shamash.cdc.com>
Sender: kurt@rimfaxe.diku.dk
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen
Lines: 40

map@u02.svl.cdc.com (Mark Peters) writes:

>In <1991Oct29.214816.23349@timessqr.gc.cuny.edu> las@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu writes:


>>I once asked a Zen master this question. First he laughed at me, and
>>then he said:

>>"Brain happens to conciousness. Mind happens to brain after brain is
>>happening to conciousness". I smiled and thanked him. you can 
>>imagine how I felt.  Does this make sense to any of you? I would 
>>appreciate an  honest reply. I know that Zen masters are notorious
>>for not making sense.

>It makes sense, but only because it's wrong.  Philosophers call this
>the "primacy of consciousness" viewpoint, i.e., the view that 
>consciousness precedes existence, and thus is the primary "stuff."

>This Zen master said that "brain happens to consciousness," which
>implies that consciousness came first, then the brain.  The proper
>view is that both mind and consciousness arise from the nature of
>the brain (and of the rest of the nervous system).

I think you are wrong. Consciousness is a meaning-giving activity,
and as such, it "creates" the brain by pointing out somewhere in the
blue and "exclaiming" BRAIN!. Afterwards, it creates the
mind as the holder of consciousness. Therefore, logically speaking,
consciousness precedes the brain. Historically, and if you are
a realist, the brain may precede mind and consciousness. However,
and just to loop the loop (:-), History itself is a product of
consciousness.


>--
>Mark A. Peters                              ****** ======================
>Control Data Corporation                    ****** == "What a save!!!" ==
>Internet: map@svl.cdc.com                   ****** == "What an idea!!" ==


Kurt.


