5 Answers
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What is primary: chicken or egg, woman or man, spirit or matter, form or content, subject or object, mind or feeling? all these questions are logical paradoxes with the use of concepts with a fuzzy scope. They can be answered logically in the affirmative for both concepts.�
The existence of logical paradoxes is a statement of the fact that our knowledge of the world is always incomplete. There is always a horizon of knowledge beyond which we cannot yet see.�
They can simply be excluded from our language as completely meaningless sentences. This is exactly what neo-positivist philosophers suggest. But the problem is that if everything meaningless and logically controversial is excluded from the universal language, a person will no longer be a person, but will turn into a kind of robot that performs only meaningful and logically verified actions. I don't want that kind of future for humanity.
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Your question is incorrect.
If you're trying to sound philosophical, you should know the idealism/materialism dichotomy. But the fact is that in the discourse of both currents there has never been an opposition of matter and CONSCIOUSNESS, only matter and SPIRIT!
It is absolutely obvious to everyone that electrical disturbances in the cerebral cortex generate a special metaphysical “essence” – consciousness, and this is beyond doubt. Matter itself is not created, takes shape and obeys the movement of thoughts, the will of fate, only vice versa. It is clear that to carve a vase out of clay on a potter's wheel, you must first imagine it, but the rest of the work will be done by your hands: matter will reign over matter – and consciousness will have no substantial influence. In this case, the visible images themselves will arise as a result of known neurophysiological processes. Because of these arguments, it is obvious that the dichotomy of matter and consciousness is uninteresting and far-fetched, and the answer is contained in the human physiology itself.
But the presence of a transcendent Spirit in our world is a much more legitimate question. This argument has always preoccupied real philosophers. Next, I will allow myself a couple of assumptions. Judging by the wording of the question, you presuppositionally consider the presence of a transcendent Spirit in our world as a fait accompli: and you take the side of the idealists in this argument. This I assume, based on your very question, which is seen as an omission of some mythical influence of metaphysical entities on a very prosaic set of physico-chemical constants.
Of course, no one will reveal to you the mystery of ” what is primary – matter or consciousness (or rather, spirit)”: this is the result of your purely personal experience and deep reflection.
I, being a deep admirer of Wittgenstein's work, consider such a dilemma meaningless, because in fact it is impossible to prove at least the presence of a “Spirit” (most often this means God, but in general this phenomenon is interpreted more broadly), because it is by nature transcendent, unknowable and unattainable, besides, there are no criteria for the truth of the statements of its apologists: speaking of metaphysics, we fall into the bosom of emotions, and emotions are meaningless – according to VTGNSHTn. So there's nothing to argue about.
The feeling of the presence/absence of entities/phenomena of the higher realms and constant doubts about one's rightness is a very private quiz within each individual.
The end.
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To answer this question correctly, you must first determine what is matter and what is consciousness?!
From my point of view of modern man, consciousness is only a quality of highly organized matter. Matter, on the other hand, is an abstraction that refers to what our universe consists of.
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Well, like for example the abstraction “food”. A person or animal can eat anything-vegetables or fruits… by the way, the same abstractions. Because specifically there are, for example: carrots, cabbage, bananas, apples… But carrots are also an abstraction, because there are red and yellow carrots… and even more specifically-there are carrots in my hand or on the counter of the store.
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You can also approach the answer from a philosophical point of view.
The most important thing with the carrot example is that if I, for example, am not there, then the carrot will still remain… just like the rest of the world will remain.
It turns out that the existence of the world does not depend on my consciousness. So consciousness is secondary.
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Primitive people, who are still quite a few in our time, separated consciousness and matter. Where exactly did this question come from. They continue to believe that a person's consciousness during sleep or after death can “separate” from the body and wander either in the real or in some beyond worlds…
But modern biology shows that our consciousness is the result of hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions in our brain cells. And a person loses consciousness not only after death, he can lose it with too severe brain injuries, when the person is already alive… as they say at the level of “vegetable”.
The fear of death is both a “product” of our consciousness and a confirmation of the inevitability of the disappearance of consciousness. Our consciousness. Therefore, before this fear, consciousness clings to any abstractions in order to stay in the real world or… in any abstraction.
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This question is historically, as far as I understand, connected with the confrontation between idealists and materialists, and like the dilemma of the egg and the chicken, based on the dialectical law of the “antagonistic unity of opposites”, consciousness (as non-matter) and matter are an inseparable pair. None of them can be primary, which is confirmed by our being – we cannot separate the material from the immaterial, since both are simultaneously inseparable. In each phenomenon, we will find both components-both matter and non-matter (in particular, consciousness).
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We live in a universe where being forms consciousness , which means that a living organism grows, lives and thinks in accordance with the conditions of life in which it is located . For example, some predator hides among plants in the jungle because it is surrounded by those very plants and nature has programmed its consciousness to use the environment for survival , and in the case of a person, for example, the society in which it grows up instills certain values in it (but there are exceptions among people).
But this is if you look from the side of scientific rationalism, but if you add a little metaphysics and syllogisms…
Consciousness cannot exist outside the body, and if it is not a product of the body, it is at least “locked” in it. Consciousness is generated from the body (that is, matter). But in order to feel this very matter at least somehow, an observer is needed , “the one who feels”. And all feelings and perceptions are the product of the activity of the receptors of the sense organs and the brain: the sense organs pick up various information from the surrounding world, and the brain already analyzes and builds the same picture of the world. The real world is what your brain shows you. In the physical world, there are no colors -they are just a wavelength, and sound is just various vibrations in the environment. There is no such thing as “red” or “blue”in being blind. In the universe of the deaf, there are no melodies and sounds, and schizophrenics see what does not exist in objective reality (for other people), but for them there is no clear separation between hallucinations and reality, since both are products of consciousness (remember the film “Mind Games”).
We can say that consciousness forms being, and being forms consciousness.
But this is by no means a definitive answer! These are just reflections , because these questions, as for me, there are no unambiguous answers. And I hope there are people on the site who will correct me or give a broader answer .
The primary force that binds consciousness to the body. In a dream, a person is disconnected from consciousness, but remains alive, thanks to this power.
Consciousness is secondary.
Body (substance) is tertiary – the third consequence of force.
Information is changes.
Consciousness is a set of information, a set of knowledge about these changes (differences from previous states).
No matter remains unchanged for a single moment, it changes all the time. These changes determine the type and shape of matter, just as the nucleus (consciousness) of an atom determines the type of chemical element.
Therefore, consciousness is hierarchically primary in relation to matter, since it is more causal: each current state of matter is a consequence of changes that occur with it in the past.
Matter in the present reflects the state of consciousness in the past, which, in turn, is a consequence of force interaction in the even deeper past.
Therefore, consciousness is primary in relation to matter.
We must first define what matter is. “…The source of life, birth, and change is Chi. Everything in heaven and on Earth is subject to this law. On the periphery, Qi encompasses the universe, while inside, Qi gives rise to everything.” Nei Tsain. The material world is not material-it is nothing but an illusion generated by energy. Our traditional ideas about the nature and essence of consciousness are at the level of children's ideas. They are primitive, crude, and not suitable to explain the true nature of consciousness. Consciousness is not generated by the brain, it is not localized in the person and is not fixed in time. Consciousness is eternal!!! With respect.
Clearly, matter is primary, and consciousness is secondary. The point is that matter can exist without consciousness, but consciousness cannot exist without matter. Indeed, all the world's experience, practice, and science convince us that matter can exist without consciousness. For example, stars, planets, asteroids, chemical elements, minerals, atoms, elementary particles, and finally, a deceased person do not show any signs of consciousness. On the other hand, any manifestation of consciousness necessarily has a material basis (brain, computer, book, etc.), and also comes from material causes.
To answer this question, you need to go to the beginning of the beginning. On the question of the creation of the world. Why is this question so complex and ambiguous? Because it depends on what is considered the original data. Where did the doubt about the material origin of the world come from? It is evident from its boundless complexity and stability, which is impossible to imagine as an accident, but a deeply thought-out regularity and interrelation of everything with everything. This leads to the assumption of a conscious and intelligent device, of an initial plan designed not for a certain period, but for eternity! Just as one can only guess at this plan, it is also impossible to imagine that it was not conscious, and therefore reasonable. Based on this, I come to the unambiguous answer to the question-consciousness is primary, matter is secondary.
Matter is not uniform in its density. Consciousness is not homogeneous and is characterized by the possibility of separation, merging and transfer (projection). There is always that part of consciousness that is connected with matter, which is the carrier. This part can be separated, replaced by another, or permanently destroyed along with the material carrier. The remaining supra-conscious part cannot be subjected to actual destruction, since it does not exist in the density of space of the material carrier, but only manifests itself in it through secondary reactions. Every night, through the process of falling asleep, a part of your consciousness is actually destroyed, while the other part continues to own the moment of self-awareness. In fact, this is not entirely correct, since the material carrier continues to exist in density, which means that part of the consciousness assigned to it is simply involved in other work, withdrawn from the totality that determines the moment of self-awareness (which, from the point of view of the individual who owns this moment, is like death). This can be prevented and then the effect of lucid dreaming occurs. A material carrier cannot exist without consciousness. It is possible to reduce the degree of manifestation of consciousness to a minimum level, it is possible to replace one category of consciousness with another category that is less adapted to maintain the full functioning of the material carrier. It is possible to exclude the occurrence of the moment of self-awareness or to change its manifestation in the carrier of a certain group. The absolute exclusion of consciousness in all its manifestations (including instincts) leads to the destruction of the carrier. Consciousness is primary.
I would say that this is a question from the category of “what is primary, an egg or a chicken”, i.e. the question groundlessly contains the statement that something is primary and what is secondary. Materialism asserts that initially only matter has existence, and everything else has its forms. Idealists, on the contrary. I think that both of these approaches are dialectical opposites, inseparable in their antagonism. Thus, I would argue that both consciousness and matter have an independent existence, but in the universe one cannot be completely separated from the other. It is possible that both matter and consciousness ascend (originate) to something unified, integral for everything.
This question, in my opinion, does not have a definite answer, because the secrets of our universe are not revealed.
I can say for myself that a year ago I considered matter primary, but after studying a philosophy course at the university and thinking quite often about the essence of our being, I am inclined to believe that consciousness is still primary.
At the moment, I argue that a person implements something from his idea that has arisen in consciousness, and I can't be completely sure that our world is an elementary result of the actions of something material, because everything has meaning, and if there is meaning, then the idea that has arisen in consciousness is embedded.
I don't know what conclusion I will come to in a couple of years, but at the moment I am convinced that consciousness is primary.