On the Matter of Mind as Something Proximately Immaterial: Mind in the 'Auenonic' Space

Abstract

In between the unending debate over the issue of whether if mind is material or not, there remain enough confusion regarding the material nature of consciousness and over how mind couples with the brain. The reductionist theorists seek for material identity of consciousness, claiming that it might be possible to create artificial mind which would rely on the material foundations of matter, whereas, the dualists claim for the opposite. Touching on the foundations of this mind-brain problem, this paper proposes, considering the viewpoints of both the dualists and monists, that mental states and conscious awareness could be assumed to be something as proximately immaterial, as a new-fangled version of the old-contingent immaterialism, and wherein my disposition is much reliant on the Kantian Philosophy. The paper further proposes that the concept of dualism is ― somewhat misconstrued, and proposes a hypothetical space for wherein our mind is born and takes up spatiality ― the “auenon.”

Keywords: Mind-body problem, auenon, materialism, contingent immaterialism, proximate immaterialism, brain states, phenomenal consciousness, functional correlates of consciousness, noumena, dualism, hard problem

JEL Classification: D83, Z13, A13, C87