Consciousness and the Quantum World: Putting Qualia on the Map
Consciousness January 23, 2003 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199241286.003.0017 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe author declares a materialist view that consciousness is a type of brain activity, yet argues that no current scientific description—whether physical, physiological, functional, or computational—can adequately capture what consciousness is. The shortcomings of all reductive programs are so severe that only a deep-seated belief that physical science has essentially explained reality could make them seem plausible.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Argues that current reductive accounts of consciousness are inadequate and that only a philosophical bias toward physicalism sustains them. |
Abstract
Abstract Let me begin by nailing my colours to the mast. I count myself a materialist, in the sense that I take consciousness to be a species of brain activity. Having said that, however, it seems to me evident that no description of brain activity of the relevant kind, couched in the currently available languages of physics, physiology, or functional or computational roles, is remotely capable of capturing what is distinctive about consciousness. So glaring, indeed, are the shortcomings of all the reductive programmes currently on offer, that I cannot believe that anyone with a philosophical training, looking dispassionately at these programmes, would take any of them seriously for a moment, were it not for a deep-seated conviction that current physical science has essentially got reality taped, and accordingly, something along the lines of what the reductionists are offering must be correct.