Summary of Philip Goff's Galileo's Error

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Consciousness is the ground of our identity and a source of great value. It is the only thing we know for certain is real. Without it, the universe would still be awe-inspiring, but without a conscious mind to appreciate its majesty, there is no value in the existence of all that stuff.
#2 The fact that we are conscious beings is the most certain thing in the world, and yet we have been unable to incorporate this fact into our scientific understanding of the world.
#3 The track record of physical science in explaining everything else is impressive. But the track record of physical science in explaining consciousness is dismal. Many scientists and philosophers take this to be good evidence that, in spite of current disappointments, neuroscience will one day crack the mystery of consciousness.
#4 The problem of explaining the origins of life was solved by the insight that complex organisms emerge from complex systems. The problem of explaining the origins of consciousness was solved by the theory of natural selection, which explained how complex life emerges.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy
• Mind
• Body

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 10 juin 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798822528819
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Philip Goff's Galileos Error
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Consciousness is the ground of our identity and a source of great value. It is the only thing we know for certain is real. Without it, the universe would still be awe-inspiring, but without a conscious mind to appreciate its majesty, there is no value in the existence of all that stuff.

#2

The fact that we are conscious beings is the most certain thing in the world, and yet we have been unable to incorporate this fact into our scientific understanding of the world.

#3

The track record of physical science in explaining everything else is impressive. But the track record of physical science in explaining consciousness is dismal. Many scientists and philosophers take this to be good evidence that, in spite of current disappointments, neuroscience will one day crack the mystery of consciousness.

#4

The problem of explaining the origins of life was solved by the insight that complex organisms emerge from complex systems. The problem of explaining the origins of consciousness was solved by the theory of natural selection, which explained how complex life emerges.

#5

Modern science has shown that our common sense notions of the world are often wrong. However, there is one thing that science could never show is that consciousness does not exist.

#6

The reality of one’s feelings and experiences is immediately known in such a way that their existence cannot be doubted. The basic reality of consciousness is a datum in its own right.

#7

Before the twentieth century, scientists had taken it for granted that space and time are different things. But it was a radical reimagining of nature when Hermann Minkowski, in his mathematical interpretation of Einstein’s special theory of relativity, dispensed with space and time as distinct entities.

#8

The Churchlands’ approach to explaining consciousness is to assume that it can be explained by the scientific method, but there is reason to believe that explaining consciousness will require a change in our understanding of what science is.

#9

The scientific revolution was a philosophical as well as a scientific achievement. It overturned the Aristotelian orthodoxy, which was the widespread acceptance of the worldview of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

#10

Galileo was the first to reimagine the material world in mathematical terms. He stripped the world of its sensory qualities, and left only the minimal characteristics of size, shape, location, and motion. He then claimed that these characteristics could be captured in mathematics.

#11

The origins of physical science, which is the study of the material world, can help us understand why it believes that it will one day explain consciousness. But we must remember that its success began when Galileo took the sensory qualities out of its domain of inquiry: by reimagining them as forms of consciousness residing in the incorporeal soul.

#12

The history of science does not support the argument that physical science will one day explain the sensory qualities of consciousness.

#13

The development of a new experimental method was crucial to the development of physical science, but the philosophical underpinnings of our current conception of natural science were overlooked.

#14

The naturalistic dualist accepts the existence of physical objects and incorporeal minds, and believes that the conscious mind is part of the natural order. Whereas Galileo set the soul outside of the domain of natural science, the naturalistic dualist wants to expand science in such a way as to include nonphysical minds.

#15

Materialism is the belief that consciousness is a real phenomenon that can be explained in terms of the physics of the brain. It is the correction of Galileo’s error, and it does not require a new paradigm of scientific explanation.

#16

The problem of consciousness began when Galileo decided that science was not in the business of dealing with consciousness. To solve it, we must somehow make consciousness the business of science.