New mysterianism

This article is about a response to the mind-body problem. For a general article on the limits of inquiry see cognitive closure.

New mysterianism is a philosophical position proposing that the hard problem of consciousness cannot be resolved by humans. The unresolvable problem is how to explain the existence of qualia.

Name

The "old mysterians" were not a discrete intellectual movement, but rather thinkers throughout history who have put forward a position that some aspects of consciousness may not be knowable or discoverable. They include Gottfried Leibniz, Samuel Johnson, and Thomas Huxley. Huxley wrote, "How it is that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness comes about as a result of irritating nervous tissue, is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the Djinn, when Aladdin rubbed his lamp." [6, p. 229, quote]

Owen Flanagan noted in his 1991 book Science of the Mind that some modern thinkers have suggested that consciousness may never be completely explained. Flanagan called them "the new mysterians" after the rock group Question Mark and the Mysterians. The term "new mysterianism" has been extended by some writers to encompass the wider philosophical position that humans do not have the intellectual ability to solve many hard problems, not just the problem of consciousness, at a scientific level.^{[citation needed]} This position is also known as anti-constructive naturalism.

Philosophy

Main article: cognitive closure

New mysterians argue that their belief that the hard problem is unresolvable is not a presupposition, but is a logical conclusion reached by thinking carefully about the issue. The standard argument is as follows:

Subjective experiences by their very nature cannot be shared or compared. Therefore it is impossible to know what subjective experiences a system (other than ourselves) is having. This will always be the case, no matter what clever scientific tests we invent. Therefore, although a person may know that they have qualia, they cannot meaningfully discuss these qualia from a third-person point of view, and the topic will remain mysterious and unresolvable.

Noam Chomsky distinguishes between problems, which seem solvable, at least in principle, through scientific methods, and mysteries, which do not seem solvable, even in principle. He notes that the cognitive capabilities of all organisms are limited by biology, e.g. a mouse will never speak like a human. In the same way, certain problems may be beyond our understanding. For example, in the mind-body problem, emergent materialism claims that humans are not smart enough to determine "the relationship between mind and matter."^{[citation needed]} Strong agnosticism applies this position to religion.

Adherents

• Colin McGinn is the leading proponent of the new mysterian position among major philosophers.
• Author and conservative columnist John Derbyshire has stated publicly that although formerly professing Christianity, he now considers himself to be a mysterian. [1]
• American mathematics and science writer Martin Gardner considered himself to be a mysterian.

See also

• Cognitive closure

References

Other sources

• Blackburn, Simon (19??), Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, chapter two
• Flanagan, Owen (1991), The Science of the Mind, 2ed MIT Press, Cambridge
• Horgan, John (1999), The Undiscovered Mind, Phoenix, ISBN 0-7538-1098-0
• McGinn, Colin (1991), The Problem of Consciousness
• McGinn, Colin (1993), Problems in Philosophy: The Limits of Inquiry, Blackwell, ISBN 1-55786-475-6
• McGinn, Colin (1999), The Mysterious Flame