[Xmca-l] Re: In defense of Vygotsky ["Sense and meaning" really means consciousness, which really means intellectualism]

[Martin John Packer]

In my view, Annalisa, "consciousness" is used instead of "mind" because if we don't take that step it is all to easy to fall into the assumption that mind is a separate kind of entity from matter; that is, to adopt the ontological dualism of 'the mental' versus 'the material.'

That confusion then leads to questions like "what can 'material' mean when mind is material?" Whereas if we ask instead "what can 'material' mean when consciousness is material?" we should be a lot less baffled, because it is evident that various arrangements of matter do indeed support consciousness.

Martin


On Oct 28, 2014, at 12:21 PM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:

> I'm curious why "consciousness" is used instead of "mind." Is there an answer to this other than philosophical? Or is it the case that the matter is accepted as settled because of historical materialism's prerogatives? In other words, is the use of the word just accepted as such because it has become a convention? Do people today question the use of the word as it has been used?