A Buddhist vs. a Materialist on Consciousness

published

2013-11-30

This is a hypothetical conversation between a Materialist (who believes that consciousness arises from the physical world), and a Buddhist (who believes that everyone shares one consciousness).

Buddhist: How many consciousnesses does one person have? Materialist: One. Buddhist: What part of the body is responsible for the consciousness? Materialist: The brain. Buddhist: If someone's brain is split in half by severing the corpus collosum, are they still conscious? Materialist: Yeah, I've heard of those split-brain people. They are still conscious. Buddhist: Is the consciousness located in one side? Materialist: I'm not sure, but I don't think so. Buddhist: So there are two parts that can't communicate, but are both conscious. Doesn't that mean that there are two consciousnesses? Materialist: I guess so. Buddhist: Well if there are two consciousnesses, then were there also two before the brain was split in two? Materialist: Well, maybe when they are connected they fuse into one consciousness. Buddhist: Interesting. So if you take two conscious things and connect them in a certain way, they become one consciousness? What kind of connection would that require? Materialist: The connection would have to provide some way to share conscious experiences. Buddhist: What does "sharing conscious experiences" mean more technically? Materialist: Inducing another mind into neural activity that corresponds to some conscious qualia. Buddhist: Could that be done remotely? For example by implanting a radio to neuron interface into two people? Materialist: Yeah, I don't see why not. Buddhist: Well, aren't our eyes just like radio to neuron implants operating on a different frequency? Materialist: Yeah, though they are input only. And it isn't clear if they are transmitting the right information to qualify as sharing consciousness. Buddhist: True, but if two people are looking at the same object, they will both experience a related conscious experience. And though their eyes are limited in output capabilities, they do have speech and movement. Materialist: It's still not the same as the connection between the left and right brains of one person. The number of neural connections is so much lower. Buddhist: That's true, but our senses are so fundamental to consciousness. Can you imagine what conscious would be like if you had no senses? A connection through our senses can be significant regardless of the number of neurons involved. Materialist: Even if it is significant, I'm not sure if I would say that two people have "one consciousness" just because they are sharing and mixing their conscious states through their senses. Buddhist: It seems to have all the properties you suggested, at least qualitatively. Materialist: I guess it's a quantitative distinction. I do see that there is a kind of overlap, but at the same time there is still separation. Buddhist: That's what we call non-dualism.