'Effing Consciousness' - Or, How to Use New Symbols to Get Qualia Into the Hard Sciences
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Proposes that new qualia-valued 'angle-bracket' symbols can mediate the conflict between physicists who reject a science of consciousness, those who consider experience ineffable, and 'reconstructionists' who treat verbal reports as scientific data. Argues that experience-to-brain coupling is a methodological requirement and that 'The One Experiment' can determine whether it is met in our Universe. |
Abstract
Opinions differ - wildly - about the scientific study of subjective conscious experience. To start to shed some light on this contested issue, this Chapter offers an accessible introduction to the application of new qualia-valued symbols. I explain how these 'angle-bracket' symbols can mediate a conflict between 'no science of consciousness' physicists, the 'conscious experience is ineffable' camp, and 'reconstructionists' (who believe verbal reports of experience can ground a rigorous science). I start to discuss the problem of experience-to-brain coupling as a methodological requirement, and how 'The One Experiment' can determine if that requirement is met in our inhabited Universe. [Chapter 2, from 'The Science We Need - One Experiment to Change the World'.]