Ode to the Stream of Consciousness
July 27, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315122649-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Population | Tibetan Buddhist lamas interviewed about the stream of consciousness |
| Key points | Argues that a science of the stream of consciousness should be built on a descriptive typology of mental phenomena gathered from lama interviews, presented without theoretical overlay so readers can inspect the phenomena and recognize them from their own experience. The author contends that despite philosophical uncertainty about whether others have a stream of consciousness, systematic observation of these phenomena provides the foundation for the science. |
Abstract
There is much that we do not know about the stream of consciousness. We have no idea of whether or not the people who painted animals on the walls of the caves at Lascaux seventeen thousand years ago had a stream of consciousness. Or if the poet who wrote the Gilgamesh had a stream of consciousness. Contemporary philosophers of mind allege that we cannot even tell if another human being has a stream of consciousness. Nonetheless, the modern science of the stream of consciousness has learned much about the stream of consciousness, and like all scientific inquiry, it began by making systematic observations of the group of phenomena that it purports to understand. Chapter 6 presents the descriptive science of the phenomena of the stream of consciousness that has been generated by the lama interviews. This descriptive science if the foundation of the science of the stream of consciousness. Chapter 6 presents this typology without any theoretical overlay so that readers will be able to (1) see for themselves the phenomena upon which the science of the stream of consciousness is being built and (2) appreciate that they are already familiar with many of these phenomena from their own everyday experiences of their own mind.