The Paradox of Thought: A Proof of God’s Existence from the Hard Problem of Consciousness

Philosophy and Theology 29 (1):169-190 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper uses a paradox inherent in any solution to the Hard Problem of Consciousness to argue for God’s existence. The paper assumes we are “thought machines”, reading the state of a relevant physical medium and then outputting corresponding thoughts. However, the existence of such a thought machine is impossible, since it needs an infinite number of point-representing sensors to map the physical world to conscious thought. This paper shows that these sensors cannot exist, and thus thought cannot come solely from our physical world. The only possible explanation is something outside, argued to be God.

Similar books and articles

Perceptual Intentionality. Attention and Consciousness.Naomi Eilan - 1998 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 43:181-202.
Giving up on the hard problem of consciousness. E. Mills - 1996 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 3 (1):26-32.
Giving up on the hard problem of consciousness.Eugene Mills - 1996 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 3 (1):26-32.
Four conceptions of the hard problem of consciousness.Jonathan Eric Dorsey - 2015 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 22 (9-10):129-44.
On The Infinitely Hard Problem Of Consciousness.Bernard Molyneux - 2011 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 89 (2):211 - 228.
There is no hard problem of consciousness.Kieron O'Hara & Tom Scutt - 1996 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 3 (4):290-302.
What Subjectivity Is Not.Joseph Neisser - 2017 - Topoi 36 (1):41-53.
The philosophical issue in machine consciousness.Piotr Boltuc - 2009 - International Journal of Machine Consciousness 1 (1):155-176.
Physics, machines, and the hard problem.D. Bilodeau - 1996 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 3 (5-6):386-401.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-11-23

Downloads
804 (#19,358)

6 months
142 (#25,427)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

References found in this work

The Mind/Brain Identity Theory.Jjc Smart - 2007 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Zombies.Robert Kirk - 2003 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Epiphenomenalism.William Robinson - 2003 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

View all 6 references / Add more references