DavidWahl
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I agree. I had a somewhat similar opinion about consciousness. I think it's a "phenomenological illusion", it feels real by human experience but it could or could not be an objective thing at all. We're all trying so hard to come up with a proper definition of consciousness which can be both scientific and universally agreed upon. Right now there's no such definition and the current philosophical definition is the "awareness of one's existence". And if consciousness does exists, more questions can be asked like:
What are the common/fundamental characteristics/components of all conscious beings?
With the rise of AI, how can you tell the difference between a system that is actually conscious and a system that appears/pretends to be conscious?
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About Consciousness
in General Philosophy
Posted · Edited by DavidWahl
I knew that just throwing the term in as if it is of no importance is going to be catastrophic. I don't necessarily agree that the phrase itself is contradictory in nature. I should have been more specific in terms of how I defined the phrase. A phenomenological illusion refers to a type of experience where there is a discrepancy between how things appear in our consciousness and how they actually are in reality, e. g., mirage, hallucinations etc. It recognizes the reality of the subjective experience of the illusion. In essence, a phenomenological illusion is an experience where what appears in consciousness does not align with external reality, but the experience itself is undeniably real to the subject. The only controversial thing about my statement is the claim that consciousness itself is a phenomenological illusion because the very concept of an illusion presupposes a conscious experiencer. It does presents a paradox that challenges the coherence of the notion itself. Phenomenology, with its emphasis on the reality of subjective experience, generally rejects the idea that consciousness could be an illusion and treats consciousness as if it objectively exists.