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Matter, Consciousness, and the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness
David Ray Griffin
II. Overcoming Misplaced Concreteness with Regard to Both Matter and Mind
The abstract understandings of matter and mind are mutually supportive. Overcoming misplaced concreteness with regard to one will, therefore, require overcoming it with regard to the other. While this is true, it is also the case that the most important direction is from mind to matter. While overcoming the fallacious view of matter will help overcome the fallacious view of the mind, getting a correct understanding of the human mind, especially the status of its sensory perception and conscious-ness, is essential for overcoming the erroneous view of matter.
Whitehead’s argument, especially how the various elements in it are related, is not always as clear as one might wish. A careful reading, however, reveals that there are six major dimensions of his contention that we can generalize from our own experience to understand what matter is in itself. I have organized this section in terms of these six dimensions.
A. The Status of Human Experience in Nature
B. The Status of Consciousness in Human Experience
C. The Status of Sensory Perception in Human Experience
D. The Spatializing Nature of Sensory Perception’s Presentational Immediacy
E. Implications of the Bodily Origin of Sensory Perception
F. Information about Nature Derived from Direct Prehension of Our Bodies
Posted August 31, 2007
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A. The Status of Human Experience in Nature