Why are eccentric theories of consciousness tolerated?
Even prominent theorists have held eccentric theories of consciousness. It stems from the apparent impossibility of deriving human consciousness from the material substances of the brainA couple of days ago, we looked at Andréa Morris’s profile in Forbes of prominent physicist Roger Penrose who struggles to align a theory of consciousness with physics. In the article, she contrasts his views with those of University of California cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman. Penrose is, in the end, a committed physicalist (“Whatever consciousness is, he’s convinced it can be explained by the laws of physics”). But Hoffman is quite a different story. As the title of his 2019 book — The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes (Penguin, August 2019) — suggests, he is a huge fan of evolution. But, surprisingly perhaps, he is not a physicalist, as prominent evolution fans typically are. Read More ›