normative

Consciousness can be denied or revised, except consciousness

Many phenomena that resist scientific accommodation—value, free will, abstract objects, folk solidity, folk time—can be dealt with by either denying the phenomenon or revising our understanding of it; but consciousness is known so directly that neither denial nor revision is an option, giving consciousness a special place in our methodology and warranting hesitation about whether postulates designed for observation can also account for it.

normativepending

Speaker

Philip Goff

Evidence Quote

there are lots of phenomena that are difficult to fit into our scientific world view. Facts about value... free will, abstract objects, solidity... in all of these cases it's at least an option to either deny the phenomenon, or revise our understanding of it. But I think with consciousness... I don't think it's an option

Source

71 | Philip Goff on Consciousness EverywhereSean Carroll's Mindscape
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:10:44 AM

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