• Home
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Date/Time
  • Login
  • Subscribe

logo

  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economics & Finance
  • World
  • Arts & Books
  • Life
  • Science
  • Philosophy
  • Subscribe
  • Events
Home
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • Politics
  • Economics & Finance
  • World
  • Arts & Books
  • Life
  • Science
  • Philosophy
  • Subscribe
  • Events
  • Home
  • Magazine

Out of mind

I call it "Broks's paradox": the condition of believing that the mind is separate from the body, even though you know this belief to be untrue

by Paul Broks / April 17, 2005 / Leave a comment
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Email

I’ve been browsing the “World Question Centre” at edge.org, the website for thinking folk with time on their hands. The 2005 Edge question is a good one: “What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?”

Alexander Vilenkin, a physicist, believes that our universe is just one of an infinite number of similar regions. But “it follows from quantum mechanics” that the number of histories that can be played out in them is finite. The upshot of this crossplay of finitudes and infinities is that every possible history will play out in an infinite number of regions, which means there should be an infinite number of places with histories identical to our own down to the atomic level. “I find this rather depressing,” says Vilenkin, “but it is probably true.” The cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman, on the other hand, believes that “consciousness and its contents are all that exists,” the physical universe being “among the humbler contents of consciousness.” But he can’t prove that either. Daniel Dennett sees consciousness as a scarcer commodity. His unproven belief is that, lacking language, animals and pre-linguistic children also lack self-awareness. He insists that neither is thereby morally demoted, but, I wonder, does this mean it is more acceptable to eat small children or less acceptable to eat animals?

This brings us to death. The psychologist Jesse Bering believes we will never get our heads around the idea. He calls it “Unamuno’s paradox,” after the Spanish existentialist Miguel de Unamuno, who was troubled not so much by the prospect of his own death as by his inability in life to get any kind of imaginative purchase on what the state of being dead would be “like.” “The effort to comprehend it causes the most tormenting dizziness,” he lamented. And you can’t get out of this by saying that “it is like nothing at all” to be dead, because the point is precisely that we are incapable of imagining absolute nothingness. Our mental apparatus is tuned to states of being in the world. Non-being is simply beyond our ken. All of this is of no concern to those who believe in an afterlife. The conscious personality just floats on elsewhere. That most people hold to this bizarre belief is not simply due to religious indoctrination. The separateness of body and mind is a primordial intuition. It has sprung from our evolution as…

YOU’VE HIT THE LIMIT

You have now reached your limit of 3 free articles in the last 30 days.
But don’t worry! You can get another 7 articles absolutely free, simply by entering your email address in the box below.

When you register we’ll also send you a free e-book—Writing with punch—which includes some of the finest writing from our archive of 22 years. And we’ll also send you a weekly newsletter with the best new ideas in politics and philosophy of culture, which you can of course unsubscribe from at any time







Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click to learn more about these interests and how we use your data. You will be able to object to this processing on the next page and in all our communications.

21206350975df4a71c556489.90184614

Go to comments

Related articles

Boris Johnson's tax plans: gambling on ignorance about the nature of wealth
Jade Azim / June 17, 2019
Not only do most voters have little idea of what an "average" wage is in reality, they...
What it's like to be the ghostwriter behind some of pop's greatest hits
Suchandrika Chakrabarti / June 17, 2019
After a successful career writing songs for Robbie Williams, Guy Chambers has just...
Share with friends
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Email

Comments

  1. averil
    March 20, 2010 at 04:48
    Hi Paul Broks, I have just finished your book 'Into the Silent land' and thought it resonated with Krishnamurti's 'Ending of Time'. I have since been on the Prospect site to read your columns which i find fascinating. I know that you column on the 'Broks paradox' on Mind and body was a much earlier contribution but I hope you will indulge me to ask you if you would go as far as Krishnamurti and see the duality belonging to the 'content of consciousness' as the'observer is the observed' in Krishnamurti's words as the thought that 'I' exist seperate to the observation which is the brains interpretation and naming of events,is the illusion that this points too. If you have gone further with this inquiry of the brain/mind I would love to hear about your latest findings or if you think that suggesting the difference in the mind/brain poses another 'impossible question'. Regards, Averil Krishnamurti's discussion with the late Prof David Bohm reveals the Mind as different to the brain, not the duality we create in the brain with the common approach to solving lifes mysterians as 'I' can solve this problem. When he says the 'mind dies to thought' and not thought dying as would happen with physical death it points to a negation of the common approach to what appears to be a paradox. David Bohm was a colleague of Einsteins and dialogued with until Krishnamurti's death in 1986. Bohm believed that Krishnamurti's inquiry into thought and time was as profound as any scientific discovery of last century. Regards Averil

Prospect's free newsletter

The big ideas that are shaping our world—straight to your inbox. PLUS a free e-book and 7 articles of your choosing on the Prospect website.

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information. Click here to learn more about these purposes and how we use your data. You will be able to opt-out of further contact on the next page and in all our communications.

This Month's Magazine

Perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus.

A pint with Mr Wetherspoon, the wisdom of Clive James, inside the new arms race. Plus: A short story by Kamila Shamsie, and the new ideas for 2020

Subscribe

Most Popular

  • Read
  • Commented

Six reasons why the Left need not despair

Ivan Rogers on "nonsense" predictions and why Johnson will not pivot to a softer Brexit

What was the general election turnout? (And four other statistics to know)

How did the Conservatives win?

The sinister threat to human rights buried in the Conservative manifesto

Boris Johnson unbound: A British tragedy?

3 Comments

Ivan Rogers on Brexit: the worst is yet to come

3 Comments

John le Carré's post-Cold War vision is shot through with a sense of longing

2 Comments

How dare those signed up to hard Brexit lecture Labour on the economy?

2 Comments

Could this psychological theory explain why we’ll never let Brexit go?

1 Comments

About this author

Paul Broks
Paul Broks is a neuropsychologist and author of Into the Silent Land (Atlantic)
More by this author

More by Paul Broks

Cosmic man
February 22, 2010
Nick Hornby: the Prospect interview
August 27, 2009
Out of mind
August 31, 2008

Next Prospect events

  • Details

    Prospect Book Club - David Lammy

    London, 2020-03-19

  • Details

    Prospect Book Club - Jack Shenker

    2020-02-17

  • Details

    Prospect Book Club - Amelia Gentleman

    2020-01-27

See more events

Sponsored features

  • Delivering the UK's invisible infrastructure project

  • Future of Aid: the full report

  • A forest fund for the future

  • A new humanitarianism for the modern age

  • The future of sustainable economic development

PrimeTime

The magazine is owned and supported by the Resolution Group, as part of its not-for-profit, public interest activities.

Follow us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • RSS

Editorial

Editor: Tom Clark
Deputy Editor: Steve Bloomfield
Managing Editor (Arts & Books): Sameer Rahim
Head of Digital: Stephanie Boland
Digital Assistant: Rebecca Liu
Production Editor & Designer: Chris Tilbury
Commissioning Editor: Alex Dean
Creative Director: Mike Turner
US Writer-at-Large: Sam Tanenhaus

Commercial

Commercial Director: Alex Stevenson
Head of Marketing: Paul Mortimer
Marketing and Circulation Executive: Susan Acan
Head of Events: Victoria Jackson
Events Project Manager: Nadine Prospere
Head of Advertising Sales: Adam Kinlan 020 3372 2934
Senior Account Manager: Patrick Lappin 020 3372 2931
Head of Finance and Resources: David de Lange

  • Home
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Acceptable Use Policy
© Prospect Publishing Limited
×
Login
Login with your subscriber account:
You need a valid subscription to login.
I am
Remember Me


Forgotten password?

Or enter with social networking:
Login to post comments using social media accounts.
  • With Twitter
  • Connect
  • With Google +
×
Register Now

Register today and access any 7 articles on the Prospect’s website for FREE in the next 30 days..
PLUS find out about the big ideas that will shape our world—with Prospect’s FREE newsletter sent to your inbox. We'll even send you our e-book—Writing with punch—with some of the finest writing from the Prospect archive, at no extra cost!

Not Now, Thanks

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with our newsletter, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click to learn more about these interests and how we use your data. You will be able to object to this processing on the next page and in all our communications.

×
You’ve got full access!

It looks like you are a Prospect subscriber.

Prospect subscribers have full access to all the great content on our website, including our entire archive.

If you do not know your login details, simply close this pop-up and click 'Login' on the black bar at the top of the screen, then click 'Forgotten password?', enter your email address and press 'Submit'. Your password will then be emailed to you.

Thank you for your support of Prospect and we hope that you enjoy everything the site has to offer.

This site uses cookies to improve the user experience. By using this site, you agree that we can set and use these cookies. For more details on the cookies we use and how to manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy.