Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind
arXiv Preprint Archive July 15, 2009 Stuart Kauffman
Six enduring problems in philosophy of mind—how mind acts on matter, whether mind is a mere epiphenomenon, the source of free will, the source of responsible free will, the evolutionary advantage of consciousness, and the nature of consciousness itself—are addressed using two physical postulates. The mind-brain system is a quantum coherent but reversibly decohering and recohering system; mind does not causally act on brain but acausally decoheres to classicity, averting epiphenomenalism. A quantum mind yields a merely random free will, not a responsible one. The more radical proposal is that the quantum-classical interface can be nonrandom yet lawless, providing a source for responsible free will.