Masks of Mind
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emerges in biological organisms out of non-conscious neurobiological constituents, just as, for example, the conscious feeling of thirst arises from physical processes which activate neuron firings in the brain.such an enormous jump occur from non-conscious physical processes (^9) But how can
to the fullness of conscious life? To appeal to the theory of emergence seemsmade.non- like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, even if counter arguments can be conscious. (^10) Something conscious has to emerge or evolve out of something
goods, quickly divides thinkers into these camps. The conflict between positions fills the popular media, academic conferences, and think-tanks that explore religion and science. What can theological humanism contribute to The question of the nature and origin of consciousness, and so reflective
reflection on consciousness? We introduce our reflections through the meta-phor of the theatre. Classical humanists used this metaphor to explore how human freedom can assume various “masks” on the stage of the world. Drawing on that metaphor, this chapter enters into the debate about con-
sciousness and reflective goods by exploring two ways in which “mind,” or consciousness, appears in reality.ness. At this level of argument we, like many others, are trying to move the First, we explore the appearance of the nature and origin of conscious-
debate beyond the conflict between materialists and dualists, but also in a different direction from the emergentists. To that end, we develop an elementary model of a fundamental property of consciousness, namely, embodied freedom. With a model of consciousness in hand we turn, second, to
an exemplary “mask of mind” that is a distinctive reflective good, namely, visual art. Our account of consciousness is on trial to see if it enables us to make sense of this crucial type of reflective good, and, conversely, to see what art discloses about human consciousness. Our claim is that art discloses the
“inner life” of consciousness to reflection. Art has the structure of meaningexplore different forms of art and reflective goods. Visual art is chosen as a test case for a specific reason. It has to do with the question of religion and. We limit the discussion to visual art; other arguments are needed to embodied
the human future.Christ), sacred texts (the Qu’ran), and groups, in cartoons, dramas, novels, and performance art, have caused uproar among hypertheists in various Currently, various depictions of religious leaders (say, Muhammad or
traditions, especially fundamentalist Christians and Muslims. Artists, authors, and satirists have been killed or had their lives threatened. Conversely, radical secularists of various stripes argue that nothing is sacred and thus no human artifact can make a claim to disclose the sacred.