This paper was presented at the
National Seminar on
Indian Psychology: Theories and Models
SVYASA, Bangalore,
December 26 - 28, 2007
 

 The transparent brain

Ulrich Mohrhoff — Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry

The reason why scientific theories of vision fail to get over the hump between neural correlates and phenomenal qualities is that vision involves an aspect of the brain that is both inaccessible from an objective point of view and transparent from the subject’s perspective. Vision is not a causal process, and qualia do not exist. Instead of causally contributing to the construction of the visual world, brain processes acausally mediate vision. So who is looking? Quantum mechanics all but requires us to posit a single, intrinsically indefinite substance, herein referred to as “UR,” and to regard the macroworld as a manifestation of this substance. The so-called microworld, rather than being another world, is instrumental in this manifestation. The relation between UR and its manifestation has a dual aspect: existence by and existence for. UR is not only the substance by which the world exists but also the self for which it exists. This is who is looking.

Email the author, Mr. Ulrich Mohrhoff, at ujm@auromail.net