I must have missed that. Are there any other paragraphs that are non-essential? I'm just tying to get to the Central Topic. Maybe you could just provide the short version of it? Or highlight the paragraphs I should pay attention to?Yes, that's exactly what I said in the previous post:
Easier said than done if you mean that literally. Consciousness is primarily a serial activity. We can't usually be thinking of one thing while simultaneously thinking of ourselves thinking of the same thing. We might think of ourselves thinking and recall we were thinking of something else but that's different. This is in contrast to reflexive activity or learned behavior that has become automatic that can occur while we are thinking of something else, including thinking of ourselves thinking.It doesn't require university degree but only our ability to observe what we're doing in our mind when we think.
Aside from that, what evidence do you have that introspection provides reliable information? More bluntly, how do you know you are not fooling yourself?
Maybe no university degree is required but common sense could help. We frequently are mistaken and most of all about ourselves.
Ashvin,
I have read Gebser. It was a time ago and I don't remember being all that impressed by it.
The problem with all of the grand theories about consciousness evolving is they always are looking at a selective subset of cases that make their point and ignore the rest. Perspective that is key to Gebser argument can be found in cave art.
https://archeologie.culture.fr/lascaux/en/perspective
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/09/chauvet-cave/Christian Hillaire, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, and Jean-Marie Chauvet stumbled upon the cave one day. Once inside, they discovered the over 1,000 unique cave paintings. Experience Ardèche tells us that the drawings were of animals, such as horses, lions, and bears. More interesting, they say, is that the paintings used modern techniques such as perspective and movement.
What makes the paintings in Chauvet Cave unique is that you can tell the walls had been prepared as a natural canvas before applying the paint. The walls were flattened and smoothed to make them ideal for painting.
There are complete drawings of animals, including an entire pride of lions. The technique is almost three-dimensional, making it appear as if the animals are perched to leap off the walls at any moment.
Maybe you can try to explain the Central Topic.