As suggest that ...

Question

HelloThe brain is just matter, but consciousness is something whollyother, an entirely different level of reality. As the philosopher Colin McGinn putsit, “you might as well assert that numbers emerge from biscuits or ethics fromrhubarb” as suggest that the “soggy clump of matter” which is the brain producesconsciousness.--- I don't know how to understand that part in bold, it's not clearly written to me, maybe there's some mistake?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Newguest“you might as well assert that numbers emerge from biscuits or ethics from

rhubarb” as suggest that the “soggy clump of matter” which is the brain produces

consciousness.

No mistake here. First, let's be sure you understand the "might as well" structure.

You might as well do this as do that.

The sentence above suggests that doing this and doing that are almost equivalent.
____________

Likewise,

You might as well
assert that numbers emerge from biscuits
or (assert that) ethics (emerges) from rhubarb

as
suggest that the "soggy clump of matter"
[which is (another name for) the brain]
produces consciousness.
______

So, asserting that numbers emerge from biscuits is almost equivalent to suggesting that the brain produces consciousness. The implication is this: If you are silly enough to believe that the brain produces consciousness, you probably believe other ridiculous things, like that numbers emerge from biscuits.

____

Does that make more sense now? Let me know if you need more help on this. Once you understand it, you might want to consider whether you agree with it! There is some tricky logic there, in my opinion, and perhaps a bigger claim than anyone has evidence for!

CJ

Newguest · Answer

Ah, now I see.

Thanks for this very clear explanations CJ!

Do I agree with it, I don't know, but thanks ...

As suggest that ...

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions