Mind and matter.

The author argues that materialist and reductionist explanations for the emergence of experiential qualities from inert matter are unconvincing. An alternative viewpoint is presented as more parsimonious and logically coherent. The article is a personal commentary that rearranges material from cited references, acknowledging the author's lack of formal qualifications in biology or philosophy.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In the View Point article of Reference 1, the editor of CIB was kind enough to let me express my views on the topic of Darwinian evolution. Since then and mainly through contacts generated by that article, I felt that there was more to be said on this topic. The editor was kind enough to allow me to air my views again. I have no qualifications in biology or philosophy, so the readers of CIB may find that some of the material on evolution in this article is well-known territory to them, but for me it was a part of the unfolding story that informed my understanding and led me to some conclusions. My thesis is that the explanations based on the present materialist/reductionist views on how experiential qualities developed out of inert matter are unconvincing and that an alternative viewpoint offers a more parsimonious and logically coherent account. The article presents my rearrangement of material contained or taken from references 2, 4, 5, and 6 linked by my own commentary. For a better-argued and ultimately more convincing exposition of the views in this article the interested reader should study the references.