DOCSLIB.ORG

Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness Pdf FREE SWEET DREAMS: PHILOSOPHICAL OBSTACLES TO A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS PDF Daniel C. Dennett | 216 pages | 01 Oct 2006 | MIT Press Ltd | 9780262541916 | English | Massachusetts, United States Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness by Daniel C. Dennett See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. Uploaded by station Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Sweet dreams : philosophical obstacles to a science of consciousness Item Preview. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Drawing on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, he asserted that human consciousness is essentially the mental software that reorganizes the functional architecture of the brain. In Sweet Dreams, he recasts the Multiple Drafts Model as the "fame in the brain" model, as a background against which to examine the philosophical issues that "continue to bedevil the field. There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write a review. Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books. Sweet Dreams (Dennett book) - Wikipedia Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Sweet Dreams by Daniel C. In the years since Daniel Dennett's influential Consciousness Explained was published inscientific research on consciousness has been a hotly contested battleground of rival theories--so rambunctious, Dennett observes, that several people are writing books just about the tumult. With Sweet DreamsDennett returns to the subject for revision and renewal of his theory In the years since Daniel Dennett's influential Consciousness Explained was published inscientific research on consciousness has been a hotly contested battleground of rival theories--so rambunctious, Dennett observes, that several people are writing books just about the tumult. With Sweet DreamsDennett returns to the subject for revision and renewal of his theory of consciousness, taking into account major empirical advances in the field since as well as recent theoretical challenges. In Consciousness ExplainedDennett proposed to replace the ubiquitous but bankrupt Cartesian Theater model which posits a privileged place in the brain where it all comes together for the magic show of consciousness with the Multiple Drafts Model. Drawing on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, he asserted that human consciousness is essentially the mental software that reorganizes the functional architecture of the brain. In Sweet Dreamshe recasts the Multiple Drafts Model as the fame in the brain model, as a background against which to examine the philosophical issues that continue to bedevil the field. With his usual clarity and brio, Dennett enlivens his arguments with a variety of vivid examples. He isolates the Zombic Hunch that distorts much of the theorizing of both philosophers and scientists, and defends heterophenomenology, his third-person approach to the science of consciousness, against persistent misinterpretations and objections. The Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness challenge of Frank Jackson's thought experiment about Mary the color scientist is given a new rebuttal in the form of RoboMary, while his discussion of a famous card trick, The Tuned Deck, is designed to show that David Chalmers's Hard Problem is probably just a figment of theorists' misexploited imagination. In the final essay, the intrinsic nature of qualia is compared with the naively imagined intrinsic value of a dollar in Consciousness--How Much is That Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness Real Money? Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published September 8th by Bradford Book first published More Details Original Title. Jean Nicod Lectures. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Sweet Dreamsplease sign up. Can this book be read on its own, or do I have to read Consciousness Explained first? See 1 question about Sweet Dreams…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Aug 28, Greg rated it liked it Shelves: mind-and-brain. Something has been bugging me more and more about Dennett recently. The more I read about consciousness, whether it be from the perspective of neuroscience, philosophy, or psychology, the more I think there is a real question that needs to be answered about qualia. Qualia, the character of subjective experience. The redness of red. The smell of a rose. The feeling Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness anger or love, and the experience of pain. Chalmers dubbed this the "hard problem of consciousness", referring to the problem of e Something has been bugging me more and more about Dennett recently. Chalmers dubbed this the "hard problem of consciousness", referring to the problem of explaining why we have qualitative phenomenal experiences. And many brilliant philosophers have expended much energy trying to explain or explain away these qualia states in terms of the underlying nuerological processes. Dennett thinks there is no conversation to be had. Qualia do not exist. He spends a lot of time criticizing different views of qualia, stating that the fact that there is no clear consensus in regards to what philosophers mean by qualia is a huge problem for the debate rightly so. He provides thought experiment after thought experiment that showcase the many errors in logic that go into Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness normal conception of what qualia is. These are all valid criticisms, but criticizing the logic behind various conceptions of qualia does not change the fact that I have subjective experience, and right now neither philosophy nor neuroscience can explain how this subjective experience is substantiated by neuronal firing. This is Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness important question, one which we may never have an answer to for all I know. But denying that there is a question in the first place doesn't make any sense to me. One example that Dennett uses is an experiment where a series of alternating pictures are presented to subjects. The pictures are identical accept for one small part which is changed in color. Subjects are asked to push a button when they become aware of the difference in pictures which takes people a long time. He then asks if before you were aware of the difference, if your color qualia was changing as the image that falls on your retina, and sent to your visual Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness is obviously changing. He then proceeds to outline all sorts of problems with whatever answer you give. I'm as strong a materialist as Dennett is I guess until Chalmers convinces me otherwiseso to me, I have an even more vested interest in thinking that there needs to be an explanation for how and why qualia exists. Explaining how our neurophysiology substantiates experience, meaning, and a unified conscious experience is to me the holy grain of consciousness research. Am I missing something? Dennett is great about pointing out logical fallacies in regards to all sorts of theories of consciousness, but seems to be quite content to Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness all sorts of vague holes in his theories. View all 8 comments. Selon les critiques Chalmers, Nagel, Levine Il soutient : non. Jan 09, Leo Horovitz rated it really liked it Shelves: philosophyphilosophy- of-mindmindconsciousnessnon-fictionscience. After finishing Consciousness Explained recently and liking it very much, feeling convinced Dennett tackles the issues in the appropriate way, I felt a need to read this one next. Here, Dennett elaborates on his ideas that in order to understand consciousness, we need to take empirical findings seriously and if we do, we realize that there is no room for any center of consciousness in the brain. Rather, we find that activities are spread out over different areas having different functional roles After finishing Consciousness Explained recently and liking it very much, feeling convinced Dennett tackles the issues in the appropriate way, I felt a need to read this one next. Rather, we find that activities are spread out over different areas having different functional roles, somehow adding up to conscious experiences. He sketches a theory of how and why certain activities result in conscious awareness, Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness his earlier attempts through the multiple drafts model and fame models of
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Naturalism in the Philosophies of Dewey and Zhuangzi
    Naturalism in the Philosophies of Dewey and Zhuangzi: The Live Creature and the Crooked Tree by Christopher C. Kirby A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor: John P. Anton Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Martin Schönfeld Ph.D. Sidney Axinn Ph.D. Alexander Levine Ph.D. Date of Approval: December 12, 2008 Keywords: Pragmatism, Daoism, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics © Copyright 2008 Christopher C. Kirby Dedication For P.J. – “Nature speaks louder than the call from the minaret.” (Inayat Khan, Bowl of Saki) Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................. ii Abstract ..................................................................................................................... iii Preface: West Meets East........................................................................................... 1 Dewey’s Encounter with China ............................................................................. 6 Chapter One: What is Naturalism? .......................................................................... 15 Naturalism and the Organic Point of View .......................................................... 16 Nature and the Language of Experience .............................................................. 22 Naturalistic Strategies in Philosophy ..................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Quining Qualia
    Dennett, Daniel C. (1988) Quining Qualia. In: Marcel, A. & Bisiach, E. (eds.) Consciousness in Modern Science, Oxford University Press. Quining Qualia in A. Marcel and E. Bisiach, eds, Consciousness in Modern Science, Oxford University Press 1988. Reprinted in W. Lycan, ed., Mind and Cognition: A Reader, MIT Press, 1990, A. Goldman, ed. Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, MIT Press, 1993. 1. Corralling the Quicksilver "Qualia" is an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to each of us: the ways things seem to us. As is so often the case with philosophical jargon, it is easier to give examples than to give a definition of the term. Look at a glass of milk at sunset; the way it looks to you--the particular, personal, subjective visual quality of the glass of milk is the quale of your visual experience at the moment. The way the milk tastes to you then is another, gustatory quale, and how it sounds to you as you swallow is an auditory quale; These various "properties of conscious experience" are prime examples of qualia. Nothing, it seems, could you know more intimately than your own qualia; let the entire universe be some vast illusion, some mere figment of Descartes' evil demon, and yet what the figment is made of (for you) will be the qualia of your hallucinatory experiences. Descartes claimed to doubt everything that could be doubted, but he never doubted that his conscious experiences had qualia, the properties by which he knew or apprehended them. The verb "to quine" is even more esoteric.
    [Show full text]
  • Privileged Access and Qualia
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by European Scientific Journal (European Scientific Institute) European Scientific Journal December 2015 edition vol.11, No.35 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431 PRIVILEGED ACCESS AND QUALIA Thomas W. Smythe Retired Associate Professor, North Carolina Central University Abstract In this paper I shall examine some recent literature that purports to show that sensations or qualia are not real psychological phenomena, and that we do not have privileged access to our psychological states. In particular, I shall criticize some work by Daniel C. Dennett, who has argued against the existence of qualia and privileged access to the mental. I will maintain that Dennett has not made a convincing case for eliminating qualia, and has not shown that we do not have privileged access to psychological phenomena from a first-person point of view. Keywords: Qualia, Privileged Access, Self-Warranting Knowledge Introduction I will defend the view that certain criticisms of what has been called self-justifying or self-warranting knowledge of our psychological states have not succeeded. I will do this by arguing that attempts by Dennett and others to undermine self-justifying knowledge are unsuccessful. I begin by examining a paper by Dennett where he attempts to eliminate qualia. In a notable paper called ”Quining Qualia,” Dennett explains that he uses the verb ‘to quine’ in honor of W. V. O. Quine. It means to deny resolutely the existence or importance of something seemingly real and significant, for example, the soul. Quining qualia means saying there is no such thing as qualia.
    [Show full text]
  • NEUROCENTRISM Feld, Meca, & Sauvigné, in Press)
    NEUROCENTRISM feld, Meca, & Sauvigné, in press). In its Neurocentrism: Implications for Psychotherapy most extreme form, neurocentrism regards Practice and Research the CNS as essentially the only adequate level of analysis for conceptualizing and treating psychological phenomena. Scott O. Lilienfeld, Emory University The early 21st century is also awash in talk of psychological conditions as “brain Seth J. Schwartz and Alan Meca, University of Miami disorders.” For example, in a 2013 TEDx talk, Thomas Insel, director of the National Katheryn C. Sauvigné, Georgia State University Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), argued Sally Satel, American Enterprise Institute that “what we need conceptually to make progress here is to rethink these disorders [mental disorders] as brain disorders” (Insel, 2013; see also Insel & Cuthbert, 1989, SAMUEL GUZE, then one of the damental level of analysis—the brain. IN 2015). doyens of American psychiatry, laid down Hence, it is only at this level, Guze main- But is neurocentrism helpful in clarify- the gauntlet to his academic colleagues in a tained, that research will ultimately bear ing our thinking about the causes and provocative article, entitled “Biological fruit in understanding, treating, and pre- treatment of mental disorders? What are its Psychiatry: Is There Any Other Kind?”, venting mental afflictions. implications for psychotherapy practice published in a prestigious medical journal. Over a quarter of a century later, we find and research? On the opening page, Guze answered his ourselves confronting the same question own question with a resounding “no”: raised by Guze, but with respect to psy- The Long Swing of the Pendulum “There can be no such thing as a psychiatry chology.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of "Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking"
    Essays in Philosophy ISSN 1526-0569 Volume 18, Issue 2 (2017) Book Review Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking Ian O’Loughlin Pacific University Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking Daniel C. Dennett, New York: W.W. Norton, 2013, xiv + 496 pp., $16.95 pbk. ISBN 978-0-393-34878-1 Essays Philos (2017)18:2 | DOI: 10.7710/1526-0569.1587 Correspondence: [email protected] © 2017 O’Loughlin. This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Essays in Philosophy Volume 18, Issue 2 Daniel Dennett is among the most preeminent and influential living philosophers, and his book, Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, encapsulates several of his ma- jor contributions to the field, his approach to philosophy and other domains of inquiry, and his account of the role of philosophy in human intellectual endeavors. The book is written for a curious and attentive lay audience; Dennett takes himself to be instructing the reader in the use of tools for thinking that he has found particularly helpful, using examples—case studies in thinking about difficult problems—from philosophy and sci- ence to demonstrate the operation of these thinking tools. He is largely successful in this aim, introducing and deftly wielding a number of conceptual tools that are both broadly applicable and important, while at the same time giving concise presentations of several loci of discussion and inquiry in the philosophy of mind and science. In Dennett’s presentation of his project, he cites the autobiographical work of Richard Feynman—Surely You’re Joking, Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Pete Gustavson Abby Perer Contemporary Philosophy Professor Marcus September 23, 2008
    Pete Gustavson Abby Perer Contemporary Philosophy Professor Marcus September 23, 2008 Against Qualia Qualia so far: Qualia has posed a problem for many positions we have studied thus far. For instance, physicalists have been criticized for leaving qualia out of their picture (recall Mary in the black and white room). Similarly, the Functionalists fail to account for qualia (recall the Homonculi-headed robot). Dennett’s Objective: In “Quining Qualia,” Dennett wants to refute the existence of qualia, thus leading us into Eliminativism and the denial of mental states all together. Dennett’s Argument: Dennett begins his argument by giving a definition of qualia. This definition attributes four main properties to qualia. Dennett then uses “intuition pumps” to show that no such thing with those four properties exists, and thus qualia do not exist. Dennett’s Account of Qualia: - Ineffable - Intrinsic - Private - Directly or Immediately Apprehensible Against Ineffability: - Intuition Pump #14: The Jello Box - Instead of just indicating the matching torn edge of the box, our language could develop such that we could explain the phenomenal information properties of one torn edge by itself, and in essence we could “eff the ineffable.” Against Intrinsicality: - Intuition Pump #9: The experienced beer drinker - Tastes can change or be acquired, and so our experience of taste is relational (depends on outside factors). There is nothing intrinsic (inherent regardless of outside factors) about the quale. Against Privacy: - Intuition Pump #4: The Brain-storm machine - First-person assessments of qualia are not very reliable due to potential lapses in memory. Against being Directly Apprehensible: - Intuition Pump #11: The guitar string (and wine tasting) - We can be trained to hear subtle differences in the harmony of the guitar string, and so the auditory quale is not directly or immediately apprehended.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-80394-6 - Daniel Dennett Edited by Andrew Brook and Don Ross Excerpt More information INTRODUCTION © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-80394-6 - Daniel Dennett Edited by Andrew Brook and Don Ross Excerpt More information Dennett’s Position in the Intellectual 1 World ANDREW BROOK AND DON ROSS 1. DENNETT’S LIFE AND WORK Over the past thirty years, Daniel Clement Dennett has had a major influ- ence on our understanding of human intentionality and agency, conscious- ness (and thereby phenomenology and the architecture and neuroscience of consciousness), developmental psychology, cognitive ethology, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary theory. In this introductory essay, we will first give a chronological survey of these contributions and then, starting with Dennett’s place in the intellectual history of the last half of the twen- tieth century, construct an overview of his philosophy. Dennett has played a central role in one of the most significant theoretical revolutions of the past fifty years, the cognitivist revolution. This revolution demolished sim- ple empiricism and put in its stead a view of human action as requiring interpretation in terms of a rich reservoir of cognitive resources and, many argue, evolutionary history. Dennett has played a role in this revolution for thirty-five years now. Recently, a number of collections have appeared on Dennett’s work. This one is different. We are interested in the influence Dennett has had
    [Show full text]
  • The Anti-Self-Help Project: Existential Suffering in Neonihilism Patric Plesa a Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduat
    THE ANTI-SELF-HELP PROJECT: EXISTENTIAL SUFFERING IN NEONIHILISM PATRIC PLESA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN PSYCHOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO April 2020 © Patric Plesa, 2020 ii ABSTRACT The Anti-Self-Help Project is foremost a critique of neoliberalism, but more specifically, a reassessment of the neoliberal self-help industry. Relying on a Nietzschean/Foucauldian genealogical reassessment, the focus is on the neoliberal self-help industry and its subjectifying power in shaping identity, particularly through the commodification of existential constructs such as freedom, authenticity, angst, and alienation as sites of meaning-making. These existential constructs are also reassessed with a focus on intersectionality to decolonize, reinterpret, and propose multifarious ways to create meaning, co-construct subjectivity, and consider the conditions for the possibility of liberation from oppression for systemically marginalized groups. Meaninglessness is also reconceptualized here as a coping-mechanism in response to the pressures of neoliberalism, theorized as the combination of suffering and humour (or tragicomedy) that I have called neonihilism, which I historically situate in a lineage of nihilism in Western consciousness. Solidarity and collective action are then integrated as a descriptive model for re- envisioning the possibilities for existential constructs to become intersectional sites of meaning- making and understanding subjectivity, which deliberately contests the individualized and universalizing approach of the neoliberal self-help industry and further creates the possibility for overcoming neonihilism. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone involved with the History, Theory, and Critical Studies in Psychology Department, particularly the faculty, adjunct faculty, and my cohort for helping me grow intellectually and more importantly, ethically.
    [Show full text]
  • American Psychologist
    American Psychologist Public Skepticism of Psychology: Why Many People Perceive the Study of Human Behavior as Unscientific Scott O. Lilienfeld Online First Publication, June 13, 2011. doi: 10.1037/a0023963 CITATION Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011, June 13). Public Skepticism of Psychology: Why Many People Perceive the Study of Human Behavior as Unscientific. American Psychologist. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0023963 Public Skepticism of Psychology Why Many People Perceive the Study of Human Behavior as Unscientific Scott O. Lilienfeld Emory University Data indicate that large percentages of the general public and allied trends (see Redding & O’Donohue, 2009, and regard psychology’s scientific status with considerable Tierney, 2011, for recent discussions) have retarded the skepticism. I examine 6 criticisms commonly directed at the growth of scientific psychology. Others (e.g., Dawes, 1994; scientific basis of psychology (e.g., psychology is merely Lilienfeld, Lynn, & Lohr, 2003; Thyer & Pignotti, in press) common sense, psychology does not use scientific methods, have assailed the scientific status of large swaths of clinical psychology is not useful to society) and offer 6 rebuttals. I psychology, counseling psychology, and allied mental then address 8 potential sources of public skepticism to- health disciplines, contending that these fields have been ward psychology and argue that although some of these overly permissive of poorly supported practices. Still oth- sources reflect cognitive errors (e.g., hindsight bias) or ers (e.g., S. Koch, 1969; Meehl, 1978) have bemoaned the misunderstandings of psychological science (e.g., failure to at times painfully slow pace of progress of psychology, distinguish basic from applied research), others (e.g., psy- especially in the “softer” domains of social, personality, chology’s failure to police itself, psychology’s problematic clinical, and counseling psychology.
    [Show full text]
  • Dennett on the Blind Spot, Blindsight, and Sensory Qualia
    CONSCIOUSNESS AND COGNITION 2, 155-164 (1993) Why the Blind Can't Lead the Blind: Dennett on the Blind Spot, Blindsight, and Sensory Qualia RoBERT N. McCAULEY Department of Philosophy, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322 In Consciousness Explained Dan Dennett proposes a deflationary treatment of sensory qualia. He seeks to establish a continuity among both the neural and the conscious phenomena connected with the blind spot and with the perception of repetitive patterns on the one hand and the neutral and conscious phenomena connected with blindsight on the other. He aims to analyze the conscious phenomena associated with each in terms of what the brain ignores. Dennett offers a thought experiment about a blindsight patient who has the sensory information that normals do , but who seems not to have their sensory qualia. What is it that normals know that this blindsight patient does not? Dennett' s answer is "nothing." Dennett's denial of " filling-in " accounts of repetitive patterns and the blind spot constitute a Rylean intuition pump for this thought experi­ ment. Research by Ramachandran raises important problems for Dennett's account. Moreover, Dennett's attempt to discount the significance of "artificial scotomas" inad­ vertently employs a principle that undermines his case for establishing the continuity between the phenomen.a in question. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc. I. INTRODUCTION In Consciousness Explained Dan Dennett offers a welcome corrective to much loose talk about consciousness by dualists and materialists alike. He maintains that our conscious mental life is neither a report on a single stream of representa­ tions from a homunculus in the mind's central clearinghouse nor the registration of such representations at a comparable clearinghouse somewhere in the brain.
    [Show full text]
  • Intentionality, Consciousness, and Daniel Dennett in Contemporary Philosophy of Mind
    Illinois Wesleyan University Digital Commons @ IWU Honors Projects Philosophy 1997 Minding the Mental: Intentionality, Consciousness, and Daniel Dennett in Contemporary Philosophy of Mind Matthew T. Dusek '97 Illinois Wesleyan University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/phil_honproj Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Dusek '97, Matthew T., "Minding the Mental: Intentionality, Consciousness, and Daniel Dennett in Contemporary Philosophy of Mind" (1997). Honors Projects. 8. https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/phil_honproj/8 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Minding the Mental Intentionality, Consciousness, and Daniel Dennett in Contemporary Philosophy ofMind Illinois Wesleyan University Department of Philosophy Research Honors Thesis Spring, 1997 MATTHEW T. DUSEK Minding the Mental Intentionality, Consciousness, and Daniel Dennett in Contemporary Philosophy ofMind Matthew T. Dusek "In coming to understand anything we are rejecting the facts as they are for us in favour ofthe facts as they are." "We should never ask ofanything 'Is it real?,' for everything is real.
    [Show full text]
  • What Robodennett Still Doesn't Know
    Michael Beaton What RoboDennett Still Doesn’t Know I: Introduction Mary, the colour-deprived neuroscientist, embodies perhaps the best known form of the knowledge argument against physicalism (Jackson, 1982; 1986). She is a better-than-world-class1 neuroscientist. Living in an entirely black-and- white environment, she has learnt all the physical facts2 about human colour vision. She is supposed to be enough like us to be capable of having the sort of experiences that we would have on exposure to colour, but to be clever enough to know and understand the physical facts about her own colour vision, and to be able to work out all the relevant consequences of the facts which she knows. The key premise of this form of the knowledge argument is that when Mary is finally released from her black and white captivity and shown coloured objects, she will learn something: namely, what it is actually like to see in colour. Indeed, in Frank Jackson’s original paper, he takes it to be ‘just obvious’ that Mary will ‘learn something about the world and our visual experience of it’ (Jackson, 1982, p. 130) on her release. Correspondence: Mike Beaton, Centre for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Sussex, BN1 9QH, UK. Email: [email protected] [1] Though perhaps not perfect, of which more later. [2] I will use phrases such as ‘physical facts’, ‘propositional facts’, ‘propositional knowledge’ etc. more or less interchangeably to refer to the objective knowledge which Mary gains from black and white books, videos and so forth.
    [Show full text]