The Unity of Consciousness
March 15, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9781315676982-28 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that the unity of consciousness, particularly phenomenal unity, may be essentially tied to agential and rational unity more broadly. Uses binocular rivalry to illustrate that subjects alternate between seeing two different objects rather than experiencing a single unified percept of both objects in the same region of space-time. |
Abstract
Conscious experience has a number of unified and unifying features. If two images, each of a different object, are presented simultaneously to a subject, one to each eye, the subject is not thereby induced to undergo a single fantastical visual experience of two material objects occupying the very same region of space-time. Typically, subjects spontaneously alternate between seeing first one object in the region, and then the other. One might argue that the unity of consciousness is essentially tied up with agential and rational unity more broadly. Just as philosophical work on consciousness most often concerns phenomenal consciousness, philosophical work on the unity of consciousness most often concerns phenomenal unity. This is no coincidence. To characterize phenomenal unity, reference is often made to there being something that it is like for the subject of a unified consciousness to experience together everything they experience.