Consciousness is not Produced by the Brain
Everyone knows that consciousness is influenced by the brain.
For example, a brain injury can cause amnesia. However, this correlation between neurological states and mental states does not prove the brain produces consciousness (the production model of the brain).
The same correlation would occur if the brain is a filter of non-physical consciousness (the filter model of the brain).
In the filter model, the the brain is said to filter some aspects of consciousness the way a colored glass can filter out some wavelengths of light. What passes through the brain filter is a restricted set of conscious faculties that we have while in the physical body.
The production and filter models can both explain how brain injuries might cause loss of function like amnesia. However, the filter model can also explain how brain injuries can result in new mental capabilities that the production model cannot explain.
This is because a filter can break in two ways: it can be clogged it, or it can be punctured.
According to the filter model of consciousness, when brain damage causes loss of function like amnesia, that is like a clog in the filter.
When brain damage produces new mental capabilities, such as ESP or in Acquired Savant Syndrome (see below) that is like a hole in the filter.
Furthermore, if you release the conscious mind from the brain as happens during a near death experience you should have expanded, unfiltered, consciousness. This is exactly what happens during a near death experience (see below).
The production model cannot explain how injuries to the brain could produce new functions like ESP or Acquired Savant Syndrome, or how
expanded consciousness could occur during a near death experience, therefore the filter model is a better explanation of how the brain functions.
A skeptic may incorrectly say that the filter model is not a scientific theory because it is not falsifiable, since the filter model can explain any change in brain function, loss of function, or gain of function, there is no way to test it. This is a misunderstanding of falsifiability, it is like saying that the theory of buoyancy is unscientific because it explains why some objects float in water and other objects sink in water.
Subsections
● Introduction
● The filter model
● Frederick Myers
● William James
● Evidence Explained by both the Production and Filter Models
● Evidence Explained by the Filter Model but not the Production Model.
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