Azz on Nostr: It's true that consciousness does not alter reality. Reality exists independently of ...

It's true that consciousness does not alter reality. Reality exists independently of our thoughts, beliefs, or preferences. But that raises a more fundamental question: if consciousness does not influence reality, what justifies our confidence that consciousness can accurately perceive it?

If we adopt a naturalistic view, that everything, including consciousness, arises from blind physical processes such as evolution, then we must confront a difficult consequence. Evolution does not select for truth. It selects for behaviours that promote survival and reproduction. A belief is preserved in the population if it helps an organism survive, not because it is true. In fact, many false beliefs can produce adaptive behaviour. A belief might be wildly inaccurate and yet still promote survival. From an evolutionary standpoint, it does not matter whether your belief is true, only whether it leads to useful action.

If this is the case, and if our minds are simply the result of these survival oriented processes, then we have no good reason to trust that any of our beliefs are true. This includes the belief in naturalism itself. On that view, the mind is not aimed at truth but at fitness. So the confidence we place in our own reasoning, in science, in logic, and in philosophical conclusions becomes deeply questionable. To trust reason, when reason is the product of a system not aimed at truth, is to saw off the very branch on which your argument rests.

Now consider a different perspective. If God exists, and if He is a rational being who created us with the purpose of knowing and understanding reality, then we have a foundation for trusting our minds. Our cognitive faculties are not accidents. They are designed with the intention that we come to know what is true. On this view, rationality is not just a fortunate evolutionary byproduct. It is part of a purposefully ordered creation. We were made to think, reason, and know.

So while consciousness does not change reality, the belief that consciousness can perceive reality accurately depends on the trustworthiness of our cognitive faculties. Naturalism does not give us a reason to trust them. Theism does. Without a creator who made the mind for truth, you are left relying on a faculty that has no credible claim to reliability. That is why naturalism cannot sustain the very rational confidence it depends on. Only if reason comes from reason can we trust it.