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Originally Posted by Cantando  I understand what you are saying, but I keep returning to the question - why then, is there consciousness? I can accept that intelligence can evolve as a biological necessity, so why isn’t this universe without consciousness? Is it just a sheer fluke of nature, an accidental chemical interaction, which produced it? |
It's a good question and one I'd like to find the answer to. What I've learnt so far seems to point towards consciousness as an evolutionary adaptation which allowed us to monitor and moderate our behaviour, to our advantage.
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Originally Posted by Cantando If mankind didn’t exist, do you think there would still be consciousness (perhaps in animals and plants)? |
Absolutely. A few animals can be said to be conscious in certain ways. Even elephants have demonstrated a rudimentary form of self-awareness. Plants, no.
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Originally Posted by Cantando What would need to be demonstrated for you to be convinced that consciousness is more than an individual phenomenon of the brain, which dies when the brain dies? |
Reliable, recurrent observations of events attributable only to a consciousness which is more than a phenomenon of the brain. Currently candidate events are unexplained or poorly explained (NDEs, etc.).
But then I think the issue is confused by the varied definitions of consciousness here. Perhaps the consciousness I'm referring to really is a cerebral epiphenomenon, while the consciousness you refer to also exists as something more. The latter requires a very different approach when studying it than the former, just like a God which is part of this universe would require a very different approach to understanding than one which transcends it.