The Metaphysics of the Continuity of Consciousness

Amit Anurag

Abstract

In this chapter I propose that consciousness is an enduring process. This claim is revisionist for it challenges the classical notion that consciousness is stream-like; I suggest that rather than stream, consciousness is like a whirlwind or a tornado.

I make a distinction between two problems of continuity of consciousness- the phenomenality of continuity and the metaphysics of continuity. The problem of the phenomenality of continuity of consciousness is how do we experience continuity of consciousness, or how does continuity appear in our experience? The problem of metaphysics of continuity is about how consciousness itself as an entity continues. My chapter is about the latter problem.

So, how does consciousness continue in time? This chapter takes an ontological path to answer this question. If abstract and concrete are the two broadest ontological categories, then consciousness would fall into the category of concrete entities, for it is causally efficacious, and undergoes change. I try to understand how concrete entities continue in time. The paradigmatic example of concrete entities is physical things. I explore two classical theories of persistence – eternalist perdurantism and presentist endurantism. I argue against eternalist perdurantism and the allied ideas of temporal parts and space-time analogy. I show that the argument for temporal parts and that of space-time analogy is circular, therefore, the doctrine of temporal parts should be rejected. I conclude that presentist endurantism is the most appropriate theory of persistence, which is that the present is the only real time, and things persist by being wholly present throughout its persistence. Then I analyse the ontological categories of events, processes, and states, and concluded that events and states are not concrete, for they are causally inefficacious. Processes, on the other hand, are causally efficacious, they undergo change, and they can be interrupted. Therefore, processes belong to the category of concrete. Now we have two ontological categories, which include concrete entities- things and processes. So, consciousness must fall into either of them. I introduce a thought experiment which I call experience in frozen time. If time is frozen, all processes cease to occur; we cannot conceive of any occurrence taking place. But we can conceive of things, albeit immutable. I then suggest that consciousness too is not conceivable in frozen time. If consciousness were a thing, we could have conceived it. But our inability to conceive implies that it is a process. Following my argument, we can say that consciousness continues in time as a process by being wholly present at each moment of its occurrence. This can be captured into a slogan that ‘consciousness is an enduring process’.

Consciousness is a purely temporal entity; therefore, the if consciousness is stream-like, it must be a purely temporal stream. But a temporal stream has an allusion to spatialized time. As the stream flows, it is not ‘wholly present’ at any spatial location. I have argued that time is not space-like; therefore, consciousness cannot be stream-like. So, we need to look for a different metaphor that can fit into the temporal ontology. I suggest that the most suitable metaphor is that of a tornado or a whirlwind. A whirlwind is a process, it moves from one place to another, but wherever it goes, it is ‘wholly present’. Although the metaphor of whirlwind too is not totally free from spatial connotation, but it is a phenomenon that comes closest to the argument followed in this chapter.

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The Metaphysics of the Continuity of Consciousness

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Personhood, Self-Consciousness, and the First-Person Perspective

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The Metaphysics of the Continuity of Consciousness

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Personhood, Self-Consciousness, and the First-Person Perspective

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