' An epiphenomenon '...

" Pragmatist Sam Johnson said that he had only to kick a stone to prove how material is matter. Much as one is tempted to kick Dr. Johnson for failing to see that his sense of kicking a stone takes place entirely within his own consciousness, it's tangibility being but one aspect of that mental sense, we should be big enough to relegate Dr. Johnson to his rightful place in this realm of Consciousness, along with that stone and leave him in peace."

The die ~hard materialist claims consciousness is no more than a deceptive epiphenomenon, the side effect of neural structure and activity, giving the illusion of mind.

But the materialist contention is no more than an unverifiable theory. He cannot get outside his own consciousness to prove the physical existence of an objective universe .The only basic reality of which he can be absolutely sure is his own consciously being. Everything else he may think he knows is necessarily based upon inference".


-Richard Taylor