Sepehrdad Rahimian - The Consciousness Library

The myth of when and where: How false assumptions still haunt theories of consciousness.

Consciousness and Cognition January 1, 2022 Sepehrdad Rahimian 5 citations

The author argues that leading theories of consciousness fail to explain subjective experience because they rest on mistaken assumptions, creating a conflict between standard scientific methods and folk psychological notions. This cognitive dissonance blocks progress. Illusionism—the view that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion—is presented as the only viable framework for a scientific study of consciousness. Even if alternatives like panpsychism eventually prove correct, the author contends that the route to them must pass through Illusionism first.

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103246 Full text Cartesian materialism Folk psychology Illusionism Phenomenal consciousness +1

Commentary: Content-Free Awareness: EEG-fcMRI Correlates of Consciousness as Such in an Expert Meditator

Sepehrdad Rahimian preprint

The search for the minimal neuronal requirements for consciousness assumes that a unique conscious state exists in the human brain and that by excluding confounding cognitive functions, one can isolate the regions generating consciousness itself. The author argues this view is deeply flawed and based on unjustified assumptions from folk psychology, and here focuses on issues that arise from pursuing such assumptions in scientific paradigms.

DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/6q5b2

Papers

The myth of when and where: How false assumptions still haunt theories of consciousness.

Commentary: Content-Free Awareness: EEG-fcMRI Correlates of Consciousness as Such in an Expert Meditator