So, what is consciousness?
Despite centuries of debates by philosophers and scientists, consciousness remains a puzzle. There is no consensus about what consciousness actually is. And, unlike other topics in science, it seems impossible to grasp the nature of consciousness in a comprehensive manner because conscious experience is entirely subjective. That is, my conscious experience of the world is mine alone. I can never really know what the world looks like to you or anyone else.
Philosophers do have various theories about what consciousness is. Most philosophers and scientists assert that consciousness is a material/physical phenomenon that is entirely dependent on the brain. But there is a dualist tradition in philosophy that sees consciousness as the product of an immaterial (non-physical) mind. That is, they believe that the mind and body are completely separate entities.
Dualist theories of consciousness:
Interaction dualism: The mind and body are two completely different entities. The mind and its ideas are immaterial (they do not have size, shape, weight, height, etc.) but mind and body do interact somehow.
Panpsychism: All things have a mind-like quality. Consciousness is everywhere. Even the universe itself might be conscious.
Epiphenomenalism: The brain creates consciousness (which is not physical) but consciousness has no causal effect on the physical world. Its just kinda going along for the ride.
Emergent Materialism: When matter is organized in the appropriate way (i.e. as in a brain) mental properties emerge in a way not fully accountable for by physical laws. These emergent properties cannot be reduced to, or explained in terms of, the physical material from which they emerge.
Materialist Theories of consciousness:
Eliminative Materialism: All mental events (thoughts, ideas, intentions, etc.) reduce to physical events in the brain. As we come to understand the brain better, we will learn to more accurately describe these activities without involving the “folk psychology” of the mind.
Computational ism: A family of views that hold that the human mind is an information processing system and that cognition and consciousness together are a form of computation.
Reading One: Taylor, The Mind as a Function of the Body
Taylor admits that the current state of science does not give us a satisfying account of how the brain creates consciousness. But he does not think that dualism- the view that a person is a combination of mind and body- is very useful.
Question One: What problem about consciousness is not answered by dualism? Why doesn’t the “mind” answer the puzzle of consciousness?
Question Two: According to Taylor, are people bodies or do people just have bodies?
Reading Two: Searle, Minds, Brains and Computers
Question Three: What is Searle’s “Chinese Room argument? Why doe he think that the argument refutes computational ism?
Reading Three: Jackson, What Mary Didn’t Know
Why does Jackson think that materialism is an incomplete theory? What does materialism leave out? Why does Jackson seem to reject the conclusion of his own argument?
