Athanatism: Consciousness And Immortality Under A Skeptic?AES Microscope
lulu.com
ISBN13:
9781435761575
$12.38
I find it quite remarkable that an evolutionary zoologist working in the latter part of the 19th century could be so prescient about the utility of studying consciousness from a purely physicalist perspective. While Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was readily aware that many of his colleagues held dualistic views on the nature of self-awareness (a soul apart from the body), he saw more clearly than most that such supernatural conjecturing was both unnecessary and non-progressive. By focusing our attention on the sensible world, and in particular the brain, we can develop a much deeper and richer understanding of how and why consciousness must have emerged in the first place. If, however, we adopt a purely spiritualist perspective, arguing that the "soul" is non-material, then we have basically put a halt to any scientific study of the very biochemistry that gives rise to varying degrees of consciousness. Haeckel points out that our own self-awareness is a natural phenomenon and not something part from the world we inhabit. As he so clearly states, "We shall see that consciousness is simply a natural phenomenon like any other psychic quality, and that it is subject to the law of substance like all other natural phenomena."
- | Author: Ernst Haeckel
- | Publisher: Lulu.com
- | Publication Date: Apr 30, 2022
- | Number of Pages: 52 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 143576157X
- | ISBN-13: 9781435761575
- Author:
- Ernst Haeckel
- Publisher:
- Lulu.com
- Publication Date:
- Apr 30, 2022
- Number of pages:
- 52 pages
- Language:
- English
- Binding:
- Paperback
- ISBN-10:
- 143576157X
- ISBN-13:
- 9781435761575