Lecture 1 - The Problem
Philosophical approaches
Only sensations exist (Berkeley) Mind
Only matter exists (materialism) Body/Matter
Identity (brain=mind)
Functionalism (brain states=mental states)
More abstract
Epiphenomenalism
All that matter is matter, the conscious experience exists but for no reason (epiphenomenon) Mind ← Body/matter
Panpsychism, everything = consciousness. MiBody/Matter
Dualism (Descartes), mind and brain have impact on each other. They interact. D: the mind= electricity, body is organized in terms of hydrologic processes. Translation at pineal gland. Mind → Body/Matter
A category mistake? (Ryle): mind as process. (Showing university: library, canteen, etc., but where is the university?) No contradiction, just a different way to look at the same thing.
→ No one wants to be a dualist scientifically, but personally we all are… I’ts just so natural to us “I try not to smoke, but my body just wants it” (see Hume, Buddha)
Interesting links between philosophical background and psychology,
Different periods of psychological thinking:
Introspection Mind → Body/Matter
All they had was the mind, they knew they had a brain but that was very abstract. They couldn't investigate it. “The mind is limited”
Psychophysics Mind ← Body/Matter
Try to relate physics to psycho: how to relate matter to mind.
Behaviorism Body/Matter
Ignore the mind, it’s not scientifically trackable so don’t try to understand it
Cognitive revolution Mind
Humans are like a computer.
Cognitive neuroscience, embodied cognition, functionalism Mind Body/Matter=two sides of the same coin. → both are the same, the one gives more information about the other.
Movements that are counter-counter-revolutionary.
→ (implicit) functionalism: mental states identified by their functional role, not their phenomenal quality; allows attributing states to computers, robots, animals.
The state in the brain that corresponds to happiness: the state in the brain is just as much your happiness as the feeling of you being happy. So it doesn’t mean that the phenomenal experience of being happy is an illusion or wrong, but if the brain state that corresponds to your happy is as happy as the feeling, then the happiness is not restricted to this fundamental experience. (Don’t worry, he says we’ll get back to this over and over again).
Your consciousness is not my consciousness, so I can not study your consciousness.
The problem: qualia and subjectivity
Frank Jackson: “Epiphenomenal Qualia” (1982)
→ Mary, the color scientist (a thought experiment)
Studies the world through B/W screen in B/W room.
She can retrieve any information she wants, but everything is B/W. She is a color scientist.
What happens if she leaves the room?
She learns something new OR yeah, sure this is what red looks like (‘cause she knows everything)
She learns something new
Qualia must exist
Physicialism must be false
→ eoiphenomenalism?
There is a difference, but the difference is extra.
→ dualism?
Two different me’s?
Qualia: the thing that is added by being exposed to the real red. Something we experience when we’re exposed to red for the first time, whatever that is: that’s qualia.
Yes, I knew red would look like this
Physical/physiological description is complete
→ Materialism
It’s sufficient to capture the essence something, there is nothing added. Nothing else is needed.
→ Functionalism
There is a one-to-one (or not so one-to-one) mapping, between physical and mental BUT both are the same thing.
The problem: Are zombies possible?
Todd Moody: “Coversations with zombies” (1994)
→ Imagine a perfect zombie copy of yourself but…
No trace of consciousness
No “it’s like being me”, no qualia
Could these people exist?
Sure, why not?
So consciousness is an unimportant extra? = epiphenomenalism
Never, this is impossible to imagine!
So no creature like you could exist without consciousness? Why not?
David Chalmers
Heart problems can not be resolved ever. Some people say they can solve it.
Responses:
Hard problem cannot be solved
Try solving (dualism; quantum physics)
They say thing we don’t understand, and then they say “now it’s solved” and no one understands how they came there.
Tackle easy problems
We will certainly try to do that & try to account for a number of things that are scientifically tracktable that we can address. It addresses most of the things and what is left is relatively academic.
No hard problem (Churchland; Denett)
We made it up. We might talk about it the wrong way and thereby create problems.
What does consciousness do for us?
Donders (1868): Press the key when you see a light. In order to react to something, we need to sense it. We have to recognize it, we have to know it is a light. Then we have to think about pressing the key.
A-reaction, because it was the first reaction he investigated.
B-reaction, a left and a right stimulus (left and right light) → requires more cognitive work. People need to discriminate the stimuli.
Sensory & motor time=a
Discrimination time: b-a
C-reaction (1:19)
Choice time = b-c
Unconscious Processing?
Subliminal Priming: Primes that cannot be seen facilitate word processing.
Nuse OR bread befor ‘doctor’ → reaction time nurse-doctor is faster.
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Nice! Roos Heeringa contributed on 07-01-2021 13:27
Very clear and helpful summary, everything was very well laid out under relevant headers! I also see that you summarized the entire chapter! Do you have summaries of the other relevant chapters as well?
Magazine consciousness michelleKe contributed on 07-01-2021 15:30
Hi Roos, thank you! Unfortunately, I don't have summaries of the other relevant chapters. But I made an overview a while ago, maybe those summaries, bulletpoints and Q&A's will help! You can find the consciousness magazine here! (Or you can copy+paste this link if it doesn't work: https://www.worldsupporter.org/en/magazine/67290-consciousness)
Good luck studying!
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