Marc’s review of Why Materialism Is Baloney: How True Skeptics Know There is no Death and Fathom Answers to Life, the Universe and Everything > Likes and Comments
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That feeling of something being off after reading a book is quite relatable, haha
Well put. To phrase another way, it sounds like he's attacking scientism when he thinks he's attacking science. That said, the idea of consciousness as hallucination, even if based on the material substrated of a brain, embodied, is becoming more popular among some "young guns" philosphers of consciousness — the Anil Seth types.
Maybe the good chap needs a good dose of phenomenology? 😉 Judging by your review, he seems kind of trapped in a rather simplistic dualism.
I agree with Jeroen, I am currently reading Merleau-Ponty's take on phenomenology. I am not far enough through it to offer an opinion, but in the case of Kastrup, it sounds to me like subjectivity knows no bounds, until it no longer exists.
"It is the typical phenomenon of someone taking the most radical version of what he wants to combat, generalizing and demonizing it, to destroy it easily." This sentence completely summarizes why often the 21st century is such a bore. :) Amazing review!
The term "hallucination" seems to downplay the certainty of sensory information in drawing conclusions about the way the world is. Is the suggestion that what we perceive to be sensory experience is the hallucination?
I would like to look at this book, as I feel there is an argument to be made on the basis of the limitations of perspective on our part due to the sheer physical perceptiveness. Kudos, abn
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Eden
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Aug 16, 2026 03:06PM
That feeling of something being off after reading a book is quite relatable, haha
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Well put. To phrase another way, it sounds like he's attacking scientism when he thinks he's attacking science. That said, the idea of consciousness as hallucination, even if based on the material substrated of a brain, embodied, is becoming more popular among some "young guns" philosphers of consciousness — the Anil Seth types.
Maybe the good chap needs a good dose of phenomenology? 😉 Judging by your review, he seems kind of trapped in a rather simplistic dualism.
I agree with Jeroen, I am currently reading Merleau-Ponty's take on phenomenology. I am not far enough through it to offer an opinion, but in the case of Kastrup, it sounds to me like subjectivity knows no bounds, until it no longer exists.
"It is the typical phenomenon of someone taking the most radical version of what he wants to combat, generalizing and demonizing it, to destroy it easily." This sentence completely summarizes why often the 21st century is such a bore. :) Amazing review!
The term "hallucination" seems to downplay the certainty of sensory information in drawing conclusions about the way the world is. Is the suggestion that what we perceive to be sensory experience is the hallucination?
I would like to look at this book, as I feel there is an argument to be made on the basis of the limitations of perspective on our part due to the sheer physical perceptiveness. Kudos, abn