The Mysterious Flame: Conscious Minds in a Material World

by Colin McGinn

Book Overview

Is consciousness nothing more than brain tissue, as Daniel Dennett argues in his best-selling Consciousness Explained ? Or, as others claim, is it a fundamental reality like space, time, and matter? In recent years the nature of consciousness -- our immediately known experiences -- has taken its place as the most profound problem that science faces. Now in this brilliant and thoroughly accessible new book Colin McGinn takes a provocative position...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465014232
• ISBN13: 9780465014231
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Do we have souls?

Colin McGinn's central claim in this brilliant and fascinating book is that the "question of the relationship of mind and body is perfectly genuine, but our minds are not equipped to solve it, rather as the cat's mind is not up to discovering relativity theory..." On that central claim, McGinn fails to make his case. The fundamental problem is that McGinn's concept of an adequate solution is simply too demanding: "The solution would also, I think, have to take the form of a statement of what consciousness is, and that statement would have to be conceptually necessary...It would have to be as obvious that consciousness could arise from the brain as it is obvious that bachelors are unmarried males." That is too high a demand to place on scientific theories: even our best theories in physics (relativity, quantum field theory, etc.) come nowhere near reaching such an elevated bar. And yet, in explaining lucidly and in detail why it is so hard to come up with any sort of reasonable speculation as to how the mind and brain are related, McGinn does shed a great deal of light on the basic issue. McGinn explains the fundamental problem: "Suppose I know everything about your brain of a neural kind: I know its anatomy, its chemical ingredients, the pattern of electrical activity in its various segments. I even know the position of every atom and its subatomic structure. I know everything that the materialist says your mind is. Do I thereby know everything about your mind? It certainly seems not. On the contrary I know nothing about your mind. I know nothing about which conscious states you are in -- whether you are morose or manic, for example -- and what these states feel like to you. So knowledge of your brain does not give me knowledge of your mind." As a Ph.D. in theoretical physics myself, I will attest that McGinn is absolutely right. It is not just that physics has not yet succeeded in elucidating the nature of consciousness; rather, it is that, in constructing all of our theories in physics to date, we physicists have intentionally chosen to eschew any whiff of the "interior" perspective provided by consciousness and have only allowed the exterior perspective of materialism to enter into the structure of our theories. We've done this for very good reasons, of course -- it has worked wonderfully in explaining the physical world, and we've figured that the issue of consciousness and its interior perspective is someone else's problem. McGinn argues that to understand consciousness this perspective of physics simply must be widened (and he doubts we humans have the mental power to do the widening): in his words, "My thesis is that consciousness depends upon an unknowable natural property of the brain...It follows that physics, construed as the general science of matter, is incomplete, because the general properties of matter that the brain exploits to produce consciousness are currently unknown." He even speculates that there is some hu

Few answers, but the right questions (for future mind study)

Panpsychism...Dualism...Hyperdualism...Materialism...AH Mysterianism!Conciousness is a datum, however simultaneously a mysterious conundrum that we have not been tuned to understand. We experience it, seemlingly nonspatially, through our brains. The mindset known as materialism draws little or no distinction between brain and mind--the latter being an illusion of the former. This model is a tool for sustaining the uniformity of nature, yet only nature as we see it. Rather than using this as an excuse to abhor understanding consciousness as a radically different experience only CAUSED by the brain, Colin Mcginn urges us to find new properties of the brain to distinguish it from other physical objects, since it IS true that mind and brain are two different worlds. (yet this is no warrant for accepting dualism in its entirety) If they were essentially the same, then a whole multitude of falsehoods would be true. For example, knowledge of one's brain would be tantamount to knowledge of one's mind. From having only knowledge of a brain's neurology alone, it is quite possible that we would never guess that it seated consciousness, being that a brain appears to be mere meat. And if you had knowledge of my own personal neurology would you know anything about my mind and its thoughts? Possibly nothing at all. (As I would put it, perhaps there is a binding element between neurology and pyschology) And if mind were equal to the physical brain, well then knowledge of any animal's neurology would generate understanding of their consciousness. We cannot understand a bat's experience and perception by studying its brain. We can learn ABOUT its perception but we cannot directly experience what it is like to be a bat. That is because consciousness is only directly experienced through a brain, something that sets it aside from known physical objects in our spatial realm and picture of reality--i.e. it is our picture of reality. But to continue the justified devotion to nature's uniformity, it must only be our limited viewpoint of space that makes consciousness seem nonspatial. Perhaps it is a sign of higher or hidden aspects of reality. These possibilities are explored in the cosmological chapter "Mind Space." True knowledge depends on the right kind of mediation between world and mind. Somehow a greater world could encompass the mind. {Objectively, we are naturally constituted from smoothly meshing materials, as seamless as anything else in nature.}pp 230

A good (and often funny) introduction to consciousness

McGinn addresses this text to a general audience. In doing so, he presents his thoughts on consciousness and the philosophy of mnd in a manner that is vivid and often humorous. McGinn must also be a sci-fi buff, as he draws examples from the sci-fi world to illustrate points.I would not hesitate to recommend this text to anyone interested in the philosophy of mind, novice and experienced person alike. The novice will find it quite readible and the topic fascinating. The experienced person will find relief from some of the tortured writing of tortured ideas in modern philosophy of mind. It is a talent when a philosopher can, in the fashion of Prometheseus, come down to earth and articulate his ideas in such a straightforward notion to everyman. The ideas are not simple: on the contrary, the ideas are complex, but the writer has the knack of lucidly rendering the ideas intelligible and jargon-free to a general audience.I think you'll have fun with this book. :-)

Two Different Sides Of The Same Coin: Conscious and Brain

Colin McGinn's The Mysterious Flame inspired me in both a scientific and philosophical view of the world. From my experience of reading many other philosophical books, this one stood out because of its unique style of getting the point across. The book is written so everyone can enjoy it, even though it addresses a complex idea. McGinn attempts to explicate the idea of consciousness within a world of materialism by using many examples and similes. He views the concept from a scientific view as well as a hypothetical perspective. By the end of each chapter, the reader grasps of one's own view and is left eternally thinking. McGinn's well organized and constituted form approaches the reader gently with the idea, so it doesn't seem very confusing or disturbing at first. Then as the reader is well developed about the objective, McGinn progresses to more in depth. This book disputes the very perplexing notion between consciousness (something we can't see) and our brain, a peace of meat (something visible). He mentions how if a human brain were placed in a monkey's environment, it would come out with a monkey's mind. This is the basic concept of how the mind is adopted by the brain's atmosphere. The relationship between the mind and the brain is a very extensive sentiment, and it is remarkable how McGinn successfully establishes the argument. Astonishingly never was I confused about anything in any of McGinn's chapters. Since he took time to explain each factor of consciousness independently, there were no mix-ups with other aspects of consciousness. McGinn rather accomplished his goal of seeking the reader to continue reading. It is very possible-especially for philosophical books such as this-to become tedious and the reader to simply discontinue reading. McGinn writes this book for people who just enjoy reading and not for special scientists or high league philosophers. That is what makes this book so special, that the average person could read it, and understand a concept not so average. Just the title alone attracts the common book shopper. The Mysterious Flame represents how it is impossible to find the truth about the relationship between the brain and the mind. This is why it is so mysterious, and we can only argue about it. In fact McGinn does mention our intelligence is not enough and we are incapable to unravel the mystery. McGinn discusses possibilities of consciousness in machines to illustrate how if mindfulness could exist in a meat matter, it is conceivable that it may also exist in springs, gears, and pulleys to assist us in various tasks. He doesn't leave out anything that would ever concern consciousness, it's what makes this book so complete. There is a limit of how much realism and imagination a philosophical book such as this should contain. Another aspect of what creates this book such a success is how McGinn well balanced the amount of realistically versus the imaginative fantastical t

A Milestone Achievement in the Philosophy of Consciousness!

Nearly all of the texts I've read concerning the subject of consciousness are marred by their overtones of scientific hubris; they invoke symbol manipulation and algorithmic, multi-track neurochemical processes as the ultimate explanations for the hidden substrate of our introspective awareness. Now, along comes Colin McGinn with a carefully reasoned, head-clearing breath of philosophic fresh air. His analyses of "cognitive closure" (namely, that evolution has not furnished our minds with the faculties necessary to solve the mind-body problem) and the non-spatial character of spatial awareness are both incisive and humbling. McGinn takes a firm stand in declaring consciousness to be grounded in the material world. Yet, as can be seen in his discussions of free will and death, he refuses to interpret this fact in a reductionistic or fatalistic fashion: we simply do not - and never will - have the capacity to understand how "meat" can be conscious. In reading "The Mysterious Flame," I was struck particularly by McGinn's brevity, clarity, and persuasiveness in presenting his arguments as well as his sparing use of jargon (although his text does tend to be repetitive at times). The reader also comes away with a sense of McGinn's intriguing personality and foibles (he's obviously a fan of science fiction). Of all the books I've read on this subject, and I have read many - including one with the rather pompous title "Consciousness Explained", this one was easily the best.