Blindsight, the Absent Qualia Hypothesis, and the Mystery of Consciousness
Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement March 1, 1993 DOI: 10.1017/s1358246100002447 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 9 |
| Key points | Presents the 'Absent Qualia Hypothesis' as a standard objection to functionalism, illustrated by Block's Chinese Nation thought experiment, in which a billion people realize a human-like functional program yet intuitively lack phenomenal consciousness. The authors note that advocates of the hypothesis maintain such systems can be easily imagined and intuitively lack any conscious experience. |
Abstract
One standard objection to the view that phenomenal experience is functionally determined is based upon what has come to be called ‘The Absent Qualia Hypothesis’, the idea that there could be a person or a machine that was functionally exactly like us but that felt or consciously experienced nothing at all (see Block, 1980; Block and Fodor, 1980; Campbell, 1980; Nagel, 1980). Advocates of this hypothesis typically maintain that we can easily imagine possible systems that meet the appropriate functional specifications but that intuitively lack any phenomenal consciousness. Ned Block (1980), for example, asks us to suppose that a billion Chinese people are each given a two-way radio with which to communicate with one another and with an artificial (brainless) body. The movements of the body are controlled by the radio signals, and the signals themselves are made in accordance with instructions the Chinese people receive from a vast display in the sky which is visible to all of them. The instructions are such that the participating Chinese people together realize whatever programs the functionalist supposes underlie human phenomenal experience.