Explaining Consciousness: an Argument against Physicalism and an Argument for Theism

Author(s)

Benjamin DoblerFollow

Abstract

Consciousness, the mental phenomenon of our subjective experience of the world, has long been the subject of philosophical debate. The world we experience is full of sights, sounds, taste, smells, and feelings--phenomenal experiences. As the vehicle of phenomenal experience, consciousness is one of the most familiar and readily accessible features of our world, and perhaps the hardest to deny. Yet science tells us that our world is entirely composed of matter and energy, and physical phenomena can be explained as just that. In Part I, I argue that consciousness stands wholly at odds with this scientistic worldview, providing evidence against physicalism, the doctrine that everything that exists depends exclusively upon the physical world. In Part II, I argue that consciousness provides evidence in favor of theism. By postulating a conscious Creator of the world, theism explains consciousness precisely where physicalism fails.

Department

Philosophy

Major

Philosophy

First Advisor

Kevin Vallier

First Advisor Department

Philosophy

Second Advisor

Sara Worley

Second Advisor Department

Philosophy

Third Advisor

Patricia Sharp

Third Advisor Department

Psychology

Publication Date

Spring 4-25-2015

Repository Citation

Dobler, Benjamin, "Explaining Consciousness: an Argument against Physicalism and an Argument for Theism" (2015). Honors Projects. 167.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/167