Leaving the House of Mirrors
June 11, 2026 DOI: 10.1093/9780197840283.003.0007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Consciousness Perception Qualia Optical illusion Cognition Epistemology Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Illusory contours Object grammar |
| Key points | Argues that Meta-Cartesianism explains the illusion of phenomenal consciousness, including why it seems introspectively obvious and why it appears epistemically and ethically significant. |
Abstract
Abstract This chapter shows how the view presented in the earlier chapter, Meta-Cartesianism, solves the illusion problem: it explains the illusion of phenomenal consciousness. One thing it notably does, which other views cannot do, is explain why phenomenal consciousness seems so introspectively obvious: why it seems to us that we are acquainted with our phenomenal experiences. Doing so, Meta-Cartesianism also satisfyingly explains our intuitions that phenomenal experiences are irreducible and undetectable. While this explanation first focuses on the illusion of sensory phenomenality, it can be extended to non-sensory phenomenality: we can explain our illusion of mnemic, imaginative, high-level perceptual and cognitive phenomenality, as well as valenced phenomenality. Finally, the view can also explain why phenomenal consciousness seems so epistemically and ethically significant.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 56
- On a confusion about a function of consciousness Behavioral and Brain Sciences June 1, 1995
- Ten Problems of Consciousness The MIT Press eBooks November 17, 1995
- Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems Nature Reviews Neuroscience April 20, 2016
- Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology and neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences December 1, 2007
- Theories of consciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience July 1, 2022
and 51 more in the library