Consciousness Studies
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A Companion to Analytic Philosophy
A Companion to Analytic Philosophy Blackwell Companions to Philosophy This outstanding student reference series offers a comprehensive and authoritative survey of philosophy as a whole. Written by today’s leading philosophers, each volume provides lucid and engaging coverage of the key figures, terms, topics, and problems of the field. Taken together, the volumes provide the ideal basis for course use, represent- ing an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike. Already published in the series 15. A Companion to Bioethics Edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer 1. The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy Edited by Nicholas Bunnin and Eric 16. A Companion to the Philosophers Tsui-James Edited by Robert L. Arrington 2. A Companion to Ethics Edited by Peter Singer 17. A Companion to Business Ethics Edited by Robert E. Frederick 3. A Companion to Aesthetics Edited by David Cooper 18. A Companion to the Philosophy of 4. A Companion to Epistemology Science Edited by Jonathan Dancy and Ernest Sosa Edited by W. H. Newton-Smith 5. A Companion to Contemporary Political 19. A Companion to Environmental Philosophy Philosophy Edited by Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit Edited by Dale Jamieson 6. A Companion to Philosophy of Mind 20. A Companion to Analytic Philosophy Edited by Samuel Guttenplan Edited by A. P. Martinich and David Sosa 7. A Companion to Metaphysics Edited by Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa Forthcoming 8. A Companion to Philosophy of Law and A Companion to Genethics Legal Theory Edited by John Harris and Justine Burley Edited by Dennis Patterson 9. A Companion to Philosophy of Religion A Companion to African-American Edited by Philip L. -
Block.What.Psch.States.Not.1972.Pdf
Philosophical Review What Psychological States are Not Author(s): N. J. Block and J. A. Fodor Source: The Philosophical Review, Vol. 81, No. 2 (Apr., 1972), pp. 159-181 Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2183991 Accessed: 08/09/2009 16:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=duke. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Duke University Press and Philosophical Review are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Philosophical Review. -
Mind Body Problem and Brandom's Analytic Pragmatism
The Mind-Body Problem and Brandom’s Analytic Pragmatism François-Igor Pris [email protected] Erfurt University (Nordhäuserstraße 63, 99089 Erfurt, Germany) Abstract. I propose to solve the hard problem in the philosophy of mind by means of Brandom‟s notion of the pragmatically mediated semantic relation. The explanatory gap between a phenomenal concept and the corresponding theoretical concept is a gap in the pragmatically mediated semantic relation between them. It is closed if we do not neglect the pragmatics. 1 Introduction In the second section, I will formulate the hard problem. In the third section, I will describe a pragmatic approach to the problem and propose to replace the classical non-normative physicalism/naturalism with a normative physicalism/naturalism of Wittgensteinian language games. In subsection 3.1, I will give a definition of a normative naturalism. In subsection 3.2, I will make some suggestions concerning an analytic interpretation of the second philosophy of Wittgenstein. In the fourth section, I will propose a solution to the hard problem within Brandom‟s analytic pragmatism by using the notion of the pragmatically mediated semantic relation. In the fifth section, I will make some suggestions about possible combinatorics related to pragmatically mediated semantic relations. In the sixth section, I will consider pragmatic and discursive versions of the mind-body identity M=B. In the last section, I will conclude that the explanatory gap is a gap in a pragmatically mediated semantic relation between B and M. It is closed if we do not neglect pragmatics. 2 The Hard Problem The hard problem in the philosophy of mind can be formulated as follows. -
Theoretical Models of Consciousness: a Scoping Review
brain sciences Review Theoretical Models of Consciousness: A Scoping Review Davide Sattin 1,2,*, Francesca Giulia Magnani 1, Laura Bartesaghi 1, Milena Caputo 1, Andrea Veronica Fittipaldo 3, Martina Cacciatore 1, Mario Picozzi 4 and Matilde Leonardi 1 1 Neurology, Public Health, Disability Unit—Scientific Department, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, 20133 Milan, Italy; [email protected] (F.G.M.); [email protected] (L.B.); [email protected] (M.C.); [email protected] (M.C.); [email protected] (M.L.) 2 Experimental Medicine and Medical Humanities-PhD Program, Biotechnology and Life Sciences Department and Center for Clinical Ethics, Insubria University, 21100 Varese, Italy 3 Oncology Department, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy; veronicaandrea.fi[email protected] 4 Center for Clinical Ethics, Biotechnology and Life Sciences Department, Insubria University, 21100 Varese, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39-02-2394-2709 Abstract: The amount of knowledge on human consciousness has created a multitude of viewpoints and it is difficult to compare and synthesize all the recent scientific perspectives. Indeed, there are many definitions of consciousness and multiple approaches to study the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). Therefore, the main aim of this article is to collect data on the various theories of consciousness published between 2007–2017 and to synthesize them to provide a general overview of this topic. To describe each theory, we developed a thematic grid called the dimensional model, which qualitatively and quantitatively analyzes how each article, related to one specific theory, debates/analyzes a specific issue. -
Thomas Reid on Consciousness and Attention 165 Volume 39, Number 2, June 2009, Pp
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHYThomas Reid on Consciousness and Attention 165 Volume 39, Number 2, June 2009, pp. 165-194 Thomas Reid on Consciousness and Attention GIDEON YAFFE University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA I Introduction It was common enough in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to fi nd philosophers holding the position that for something to be ‘in the mind’ and for that mind to be conscious of it are one and the same thing. The thought is that consciousness is a relation between a mind and a mental entity playing the same role as the relation of inherence found between a substance and qualities belonging to it. What it is, on this view, for something to ‘inhere’ in the mind is for that mind to be conscious of it. Locke was explicit in his acceptance of such a claim, writing, for instance, [T]o be in the Mind, and, never to be perceived, is all one, as to say, any thing is, and is not, in the Mind.1 The implication here is that it is a fl at contradiction to assert that some- thing is in the mind and ‘unperceived’ where a mind ‘perceives’ some- 1 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Nidditch, P. H. (ed.), Ox- ford: Clarendon Press, 1975, I.ii.5. 166 Gideon Yaffe thing, in this context, just in case it is conscious of it. On this issue, as on many others, Locke’s position was accepted almost verbatim by the most infl uential Anglophone philosophers of the century that followed, including even those, such as Thomas Reid, who opposed many of the tenets of Locke’s philosophy of mind. -
Does Binding of Synesthetic Color to the Evoking Grapheme Require Attention?
In press, Cortex DOES BINDING OF SYNESTHETIC COLOR TO THE EVOKING GRAPHEME REQUIRE ATTENTION? Noam Sagiv1,2, Jeffrey Heer3, Lynn Robertson1,4 1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley 2Department of Psychology, University College London 3Computer Science Department, University of California, Berkeley 4Neurology Research Services, Veterans Administration, Martinez, CA Running page heading: The Role of Attention in Synesthesia Address correspondence to: Noam Sagiv Department of Psychology e-mail University College London 26 Bedford Way London WC1H 0AP Tel: +44-20-7679-5365 United Kingdom Fax: +44-20-7436-4276 ABSTRACT The neural mechanisms involved in binding features such as shape and color are a matter of some debate. Does accurate binding rely on spatial attention functions of the parietal lobe or can it occur without attentional input? One extraordinary phenomenon that may shed light on this question is that of chromatic-graphemic synesthesia, a rare condition in which letter shapes evoke color perceptions. A popular suggestion is that synesthesia results from cross-activation between different functional regions (e.g., between shape and color areas of the ventral pathway). Under such conditions binding may not require parietal involvement and could occur preattentively. We tested this hypothesis in two synesthetes who perceived grayscale letters and digits in color. We found no evidence for preattentive binding using a visual search paradigm in which the target was a synesthetic inducer. In another experiment involving color judgments, we show that the congruency of target color and the synesthetic color of irrelevant digits modulates performance more when the digits are included within the attended region of space. -
Between Psychology and Philosophy East-West Themes and Beyond
PALGRAVE STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE EAST-WEST PHILOSOPHY Between Psychology and Philosophy East-West Themes and Beyond Michael Slote Palgrave Studies in Comparative East-West Philosophy Series Editors Chienkuo Mi Philosophy Soochow University Taipei City, Taiwan Michael Slote Philosophy Department University of Miami Coral Gables, FL, USA The purpose of Palgrave Studies in Comparative East-West Philosophy is to generate mutual understanding between Western and Chinese philoso- phers in a world of increased communication. It has now been clear for some time that the philosophers of East and West need to learn from each other and this series seeks to expand on that collaboration, publishing books by philosophers from different parts of the globe, independently and in partnership, on themes of mutual interest and currency. The series also publishs monographs of the Soochow University Lectures and the Nankai Lectures. Both lectures series host world-renowned philosophers offering new and innovative research and thought. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16356 Michael Slote Between Psychology and Philosophy East-West Themes and Beyond Michael Slote Philosophy Department University of Miami Coral Gables, FL, USA ISSN 2662-2378 ISSN 2662-2386 (electronic) Palgrave Studies in Comparative East-West Philosophy ISBN 978-3-030-22502-5 ISBN 978-3-030-22503-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22503-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made. -
Explanation of the Perceptual Oblique Effect Based on the Fidelity of Oculomotor Control During Saccades
Explanation of the Perceptual Oblique Effect Based on the Fidelity of Oculomotor Control During Saccades Khuong N. Nguyen∗, Xi Liuy, Oleg Komogortsevz, Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna∗, and Yoonsuck Choe∗ ∗Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University - College Station, TX 77843 yDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University - College Station, TX 77843 zDepartment of Computer Science, Texas State University - San Marcos, TX 78666 Abstract—The oblique effect, observed in both humans and perception in the brain [8]. We propose that a possible ex- animals, refers to the phenomenon of differential perceptual planation can be found in the oculomotor system. Research performance in visual recognition tasks that involve horizontal in active vision and perceptual performance discovered that and vertical, vs. diagonal patterns. Furthermore, differences have been found in the visual cortical organization for the horizontal saccadic eye movements (SEMs) follow different systematic and vertical vs. diagonal representations. However, why such curvatures for different angles [9]. While horizontally and structural differences leading to functional divergence emerge vertically SEMs are smooth and aligned along the major axis, in the first place is yet to be explained. In this paper, we oblique SEMs experiences shakiness and deviation from the propose a potential explanation for the oblique effect based on the center lines. Given the above, we propose that the oblique differences in the sampling of oriented edge inputs along different angles due to mechanics of eye movement. Our hypothesis is effect is due to less precise ocular motions along the oblique that the oblique effect is mainly due to eye movement along the directions, which makes the image samples taken along the diagonal directions being less precise than the horizontal and the trajectory more variable than the samples taken along the vertical, which causes the sampling of the angles more variable vertical or horizontal directions. -
Philosophies of Common Sense
Philosophies of Common Sense Fall 2009 - Winter 2010 This course will focus on a series of philosophers whose work can be loosely characterized as philosophy of common sense, namely, Hume, Reid, Moore, Austin, and among contemporaries, Mark Wilson. Our goal will be to trace a number of inter-related meta- philosophical themes: naturalism, the nature and viability of conceptual analysis, and the role of ordinary language. (The ‘naturalism’ in question will often be the specific form I call ‘Second Philosophy’, so some grasp of that approach, as in Maddy [2007] or [200?], would be useful as background.) Skepticism, and particularly the Argument from Illusion, will feature as a recurring case study for comparing and contrasting these various approaches to philosophical inquiry. The default requirement for those taking the course for a grade (other than S/U) is three short papers (750-1250 words) due at the beginning of class in the 4th week, 7th week, and 10th week. Each paper should isolate one localized point in the readings and offer some analysis and/or critique. Other options are open to negotiation. I assume everyone has access to copies of: J. L. Austin, Sense and Sensibilia. Mark Wilson, Wandering Significance. All other assigned materials are available to enrolled students at the links below. Copies of these books will be available in Brian Rogers’s office (795 SST): Austin, Philosophical Papers. Baldwin, G. E. Moore. 2 Cuneo and Woudenberg, Cambridge Companion to Thomas Reid. Fratantaro, The Methodology of G. E. Moore. Moore, Philosophical Papers. Philosophical Studies. Some Main Problems of Philosophy. Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense. -
Kicking the Psychophysical Laws Into Gear a New Approach to the Combination Problem
Tam Hunt Kicking the Psychophysical Laws into Gear A New Approach to the Combination Problem Abstract: A new approach to the ‘hard problem’of consciousness, the eons-old mind–body problem, is proposed, inspired by Whitehead, Schopenhauer, Griffin, and others. I define a ‘simple subject’ as the fundamental unit of matter and of consciousness. Simple subjects are inherently experiential, albeit in a highly rudimentary manner com- pared to human consciousness. With this re-framing, the ‘physical’ realm includes the ‘mental’ realm; they are two aspects of the same thing, the outside and inside of each real thing. This view is known as panpsychism or panexperientialism and is in itself a partial solution to the hard problem. The secondary but more interesting question may be framed as: what is a ‘complex subject’? How do simple subjects combine to form complex subjects like bats and human beings? This is more generally known as the ‘combination problem’or the ‘boundary problem’, and is the key problem facing both materialist and pan- psychist approaches to consciousness. I suggest a new approach for resolving this component of the hard problem, a ‘general theory of complex subjects’that includes ‘psychophysical laws’in the form of a simple mathematical framework. I present three steps for characteriz- ing complex subjects, with the physical nature of time key to this new understanding. Viewing time as fundamentally quantized is impor- tant. I also suggest, as a second-order conceptualization, that ‘infor- mation’ and ‘experience’ may be considered identical concepts and that there is no double-aspect to information. Rather, there is a single Correspondence: Tam Hunt, Visiting Scholar, UC Santa Barbara Psychology Department, and Lec- turer, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara Email: [email protected] Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18, No. -
Lessons of Bell's Theorem
Lessons of Bell's Theorem: Nonlocality, yes; Action at a distance, not necessarily. Wayne C. Myrvold Department of Philosophy The University of Western Ontario Forthcoming in Shan Gao and Mary Bell, eds., Quantum Nonlocality and Reality { 50 Years of Bell's Theorem (Cambridge University Press) Contents 1 Introduction page 1 2 Does relativity preclude action at a distance? 2 3 Locally explicable correlations 5 4 Correlations that are not locally explicable 8 5 Bell and Local Causality 11 6 Quantum state evolution 13 7 Local beables for relativistic collapse theories 17 8 A comment on Everettian theories 19 9 Conclusion 20 10 Acknowledgments 20 11 Appendix 20 References 25 1 Introduction 1 1 Introduction Fifty years after the publication of Bell's theorem, there remains some con- troversy regarding what the theorem is telling us about quantum mechanics, and what the experimental violations of Bell inequalities are telling us about the world. This chapter represents my best attempt to be clear about what I think the lessons are. In brief: there is some sort of nonlocality inherent in any quantum theory, and, moreover, in any theory that reproduces, even approximately, the quantum probabilities for the outcomes of experiments. But not all forms of nonlocality are the same; there is a distinction to be made between action at a distance and other forms of nonlocality, and I will argue that the nonlocality needed to violate the Bell inequalities need not involve action at a distance. Furthermore, the distinction between forms of nonlocality makes a difference when it comes to compatibility with relativis- tic causal structure. -
Reflexive Monism
Reflexive Monism Max Velmans, Goldsmiths, University of London; email [email protected]; http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/psychology/staff/velmans.php Journal of Consciousness Studies (2008), 15(2), 5-50. Abstract. Reflexive monism is, in essence, an ancient view of how consciousness relates to the material world that has, in recent decades, been resurrected in modern form. In this paper I discuss how some of its basic features differ from both dualism and variants of physicalist and functionalist reductionism, focusing on those aspects of the theory that challenge deeply rooted presuppositions in current Western thought. I pay particular attention to the ontological status and seeming “out- thereness” of the phenomenal world and to how the “phenomenal world” relates to the “physical world”, the “world itself”, and processing in the brain. In order to place the theory within the context of current thought and debate, I address questions that have been raised about reflexive monism in recent commentaries and also evaluate competing accounts of the same issues offered by “transparency theory” and by “biological naturalism”. I argue that, of the competing views on offer, reflexive monism most closely follows the contours of ordinary experience, the findings of science, and common sense. Key words: Consciousness, reflexive, monism, dualism, reductionism, physicalism, functionalism, transparency, biological naturalism, phenomenal world, physical world, world itself, universe itself, brain, perceptual projection, phenomenal space, measured space, physical space, space perception, information, virtual reality, hologram, phenomenological internalism, phenomenological externalism, first person, third person, complementary What is Reflexive Monism? Monism is the view that the universe, at the deepest level of analysis, is one thing, or composed of one fundamental kind of stuff.