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abstract: 'There is no question that something goes on in the head, which has been called consciousness. But is it consciousness? Over the last fifty years, there has been a concerted attempt to show how consciousness can be physical, of the brain. The diversity of views is characteristic of a Kuhnian pre- normal science revolution: but the revolution has not arrived. This is because the assumption that consciousness exists is wrong. In this paper consciousness (with e.g. its subjective/objective distinction) is characterized as a pre-scientific theory. The biological ontology of the phenomenon is revealed, and its placement in organismic biology explained. The phenomenon will be termed brain-sign, as appropriate to its biological function. The nature of this function completely reconstructs our view of ourselves, and other creatures in which it is manifest. The detail and ramifications cannot be addressed at length in a paper, but a research program is outlined briefly. '
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creators_name:
- family: Clapson
given: Philip
honourific: ''
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date: 2004-05
date_type: published
datestamp: 2006-12-08
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dir: disk0/00/00/52/83
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eprint_status: archive
eprintid: 5283
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keywords: 'consciousness, eliminativism, neurophysiological function, neural causation, organismic communication, brain-to-brain communication, cultural programming, organismic interpretation'
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:43
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note: 'This paper was created in May 2004. A later and shorter version of Brain-Sign Theory is also available at Cogprints, no.5284, created in June 2006. '
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reportno: ~
rev_number: 8
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status_changed: 2007-09-12 17:08:45
subjects:
- phil-mind
- behav-neuro-sci
- bio-theory
succeeds: ~
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title: Brain-Sign or The End of Consciousness
type: preprint
userid: 6806
volume: ~