Panpsychism and vitalism (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, April 12, 2013, 13:10 (4039 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Organisms appear to have thought at the cellular level. 'Appear' is the key word. Cells do not think. Here is Talbott: -http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/what-do-organisms-mean-What follows is a dismissal of vitalism, which I shan't reproduce here. There's no mention of panpsychism, and I don't know why you've put both of them in your heading, but Talbott would no doubt reject panpsychism as well. I'd just like to comment on the passage you put in bold, and your own subsequent comments:-"The thought-relations we discover in the world, whether in the mathematical demonstrations of the physicist or the various living forms of the biologist, need to be genuinely and faithfully and reproducibly observed, but must not be turned into mystical forces."-DAVID: Let's not quote Talbott out of context.-Indeed. This is a clear rejection of vitalism and of God, as you acknowledgeAVID: Talbott has not taken his observations in his essays to my conclusion, which is God's DNA and the rest of the genome does it. It creates this appearence while going about its planned business. If you take the next step to recognizing God's efforts, Talbott's confusion disappears. Like Nagel, not willing to take the next logical step.-I've no idea what Talbott actually believes (we only know so far what he doesn't believe), but if you want to get rid of confusion, you'll have to take your leap of faith and not think any more about the implications. Confusion disappears if you opt for chance and don't think about the astronomical odds against it. Confusion disappears if you opt for a first-cause, self-aware, universal intelligence, and don't think about the origin, nature, motives, abilities of such a power. At the foot of the cliff I'm sure you'll find the bodies of many fine folk who leapt in order to avoid the confusion (just think of the history of religion!). An alternative, however, is to face up to the fact that nobody knows the answers to any of the fundamental questions, and take "the next logical step" of postponing the leap indefinitely.