The Argument from Consciousness

J.P. Moreland @ www.scriptoriumdaily.com presents the apologetics method of the appeal to consciousness. He notes:

The Nature of the Mental

(a) there is a raw qualitative feel or a “what it is like” to have a mental state such as a pain;

(b) at least many mental states have intentionality—ofness or aboutness–directed towards an object;

(c) mental states are inner, private and immediate to the subject having them;

(d) they require a subjective ontology—namely, mental states are necessarily owned by the first person sentient subjects who have them;

(e) mental states fail to have crucial features (e.g., spatial extension, location) that characterize physical states and, in general, cannot be described using physical language.

The Argument from Consciousness

(a) The uniformity of nature.

(b) Contingency of the mind/body correlation.

(c) Epiphenomenalism and causal closure.

(d) The inadequacy of evolutionary explanations. Naturalist