| Like I said, I'm not a philosopher. I chose to disregard explanations based on sociological constructs because they were created by the very item in question - the mind. That's like trying to explain the origin of iron by going to your local car dealership. You'd be relegating yourself to another entire set of assumptions and restrictions on the definition and you wouldn't even know how you were lacking.
That said, I believe philosophy poorly equipped in explaining how our brains work towards giving us consciousness. I believe it's best served explaining how our consciousness, individually or collectively, invents or alters or destroys societal institutions of all shape and manner. I believe it already assumes a link between mind and brain or it invents paradoxes to cover the field. (Can you see your own brain, bla bla bla)
Just because science is not advanced enough to understand that "this spark means that" except in a general sense based on where it's found and the visible reaction of the person in question (*bzzt* ouch!) - not to mention that everyone's mind is wired differently - doesn't mean that there is some inherent mysticism involved in how our minds work. I seriously believe you underestimate the breadth of our scientific knowledge; I sincerely doubt you'll find anything divine in our brains.
. . . whenever any government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such forms as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. |