A Critical Analysis of “Man’s Consciousness Theory” in John Searle's Philosophy of Mind

Explaining the nature of mental phenomena, particularly consciousness, is among the most important issues in the philosophy of mind and contemporary anthropology. Western and Islamic philosophers have regularly commented on this issue but, due to the recent development in cognitive sciences including neurology and artificial intelligence, the analysis of “consciousness” is largely disputed. Searle is a contemporary analytical philosopher who, in his own opinion, has presented an innovative approach for solving the issue of “consciousness” and its relation with brain and nervous system. According to him, the equality of consciousness and physical affairs is denied and Cartesian dualism is avoided. Issues such as consciousness are characteristics of brain cortex and effect of brains’ internal processes. In Searle’s view, causality of brain’s internal parts and characteristics of its cortex can solve the challenges associated with the relationship between body and mind. The present research has adopted an analytical-critical method to explain Searle’s view and analyze it critically. It was revealed that, on one side Searle’s analysis of the causality of intercellular parts is violated and on the other, realization of consciousness in the brain is impossible. Searle also fails to provide robust evidences on his claims.