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consciousness is an emergent property of the brain
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Isn't this a *philosophical* position? I think john Stewart Mill argued this, and now scientists have 'caught up' with the philosopher. There's an interesting article on emergence by
Goodenough and Deacon. They write :
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By contrast, our emergent mentalities to date lack reductionist explanations, even if most neuroscientists are confident that such explanations will be forthcoming. As with life, moreover, analysing all the pieces is just the first step, not the final explanation.
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If that is the case, it leaves plenty of wriggle-room for the philosopher.
BTW, Deacon has written an interesting (and non-Chomskyan) account of the development of language. It's called "The Symbolic Species." You'll catch glimpses of his argument in the article I've linked to.