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| author |
Wangeun Serl
| | title |
A Consciousness Study Comparing Robert Corrington, Yu Young-Mo, and Henry Stapp
| | abstract |
The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate consciousness by comparing the thoughts of Robert Corrington, Yu Young-mo, and Henry Stapp. The notion of consciousness is so complicated that this dissertation undertakes to explore it by employing two perspectives: consciousness in terms of subjectivity and consciousness in the mind-body problem. Relying on philosophical approaches to consciousness, this dissertation provides a new understanding of consciousness by drawing on dialogues among three thinkers. Interdisciplinary studies on consciousness is conducted since Corrington is a philosopher, Yu Young-mo a theologian, and Stapp a mathematical physicist. Corrington's theories are examined in terms of consciousness by using classical phenomenology since the main topic of phenomenology is consciousness. Yu Young-mo's research on consciousness shows how he as a religion scholar approaches and understands the issue of consciousness. By exploring Stapp's thoughts on the quantum measurement problem, this dissertation takes into consideration quantum physicists' perspective on consciousness. Finally, attending to similarities among three thinkers' understandings of consciousness, this dissertation claims that every entity has something that can be called consciousness. I contend that consciousness is an essential part of every entity so that it may make connections to other entities. No matter how simply an entity is, the entity has its relations to other entities by its consciousness. My argument is based on the four issues of consciousness: the possibility of the non-physical, the necessity of subjectivity, the fundamental structure of consciousness, and the significance of observation. The argument of this dissertation is a statement of possibility because of two conditions, the indemonstrability of the non-physical and the necessity of subjectivity. Assuming that consciousness is related to the non-physical, there is currently no way to prove the existence of consciousness because the non-physical can be neither measured nor observed. Also, if we take consciousness as subjectivity, we cannot notice from a third-person perspective if a certain entity has consciousness. The statement that every entity has consciousness is a statement of possibility, but Corrington, Yu Young-mo, and Stapp raise its probability of truth.
| | school |
The Theological School, Drew University
| | degree |
Ph.D. (2019)
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| advisor |
Robert Corrington
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| committee |
Hyo-Dong Lee
Catherine Keller
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| full text | WSerl.pdf |
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