Talk Details

Title : Developing an analytical tool to aid discourse between varying theories on the nature, origins and interrelationships of dimensions of conscious experience

Mr. Martin Fleming
Vedanta philosopher

Abstract:

There are many dimensions and aspects of conscious experience which are the subject of extensive research across many disciplines of science and philosophy. Many terms are conflated, others defined too narrowly or too broadly. To this day, there is no theory nor structural framework for the origin and nature of consciousness. Nor is there a systematic tool that enables researchers to articulate their use of terms, concepts or structural approaches in a way that allows comparison and contrast with other theoretical ideas.

This paper will suggest that, despite strongly-voiced differences, there is much common ground. In this regard we are assisted by the approach adopted in Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).

    I argue for several axioms:
  1. 1. That the philosophical approach of focus on ontological differences is invalid;
  2. 2. As with physics, we should focus on defining the functions and properties of the various dimensions of conscious experience; and that
  3. 3. These fall into a minimum of three distinct categories of functions/properties.

    We thus propose an analytical tool to be used by researchers to indicate their particular commitment with regard to:
  • a) the status of each dimension in space and time (both physical and conceptual);
  • b) the causal inter-connections that exist between them;
  • c) the authority and evidence they use to justify their model of causality.

I will present a framework of consciousness based on IKS insights that can map out multiple theories and show how they relate to one another - regardless of how they lie within the metaphysical spectrum.

Bio:

Akhandadhi das was born in Belfast, Ireland and studied architecture at Bristol University. In 1975 he entered an ashram in the UK to study Vedanta philosophy and took monastic vows. He served as Principal of the Bhaktivedanta Manor theological college from 1982-1995.


He has been a regular contributor on BBC since 1989 and sat on its Central Religious Advisory Board for six years. From 1996, he was director of Buckland Hall in Wales, an open venue for spiritual, philosophical and personal development and training. Currently, he is a director the Science and Philosophy Initiative in the UK, a multi-disciplinary association exploring the issues of consciousness & physical systems principally in neuroscience, biology & physics; and also of the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS). His particular area of interest is the metaphysics of consciousness.