Choosing consciousness as mind’s mark guarantees a human-superiority result

Evidence

But there is not just one criterion of the mind, but rather a whole cluster—consciousness, intentionality, experience/sentience, imagination, reason, goaldirectedness—to name some. These concepts suggest different places and ways to renegotiate mind/nature dualism and each gives different results in terms of its application to the non-human world. One reason for the Cartesian emphasis on consciousness as the mark of the mental is that it is a concept perhaps most strongly represented in the human sphere. For the same reason it is the worst one to pick in trying to break down mind/ nature dualism. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 488

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how the book here calls back to Descartes-as-consciousness (ch18): Plumwood uses the term most loaded toward the human to tighten the circle — a mechanism worth teaching for the polyad. — connects to: Mind’s spread into nature implies weak, not strong, panpsychism — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 495; Bodily differences rather than intrinsic mental differences explain human superiority — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 347

Broader Connections

• Bodily differences rather than intrinsic mental differences explain human superiority #complicates (0.85) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 347