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Mind/body “hard problem” is not a category error

Linda A.W. Brakel

Animal Sentience September 6, 2016 DOI: 10.51291/2377-7478.1157 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Philosophy of mind
Key points Argues that while Reber's Cellular Basis of Consciousness eliminates the ontological gap between mind and body, it does not address the epistemological or causal gaps. Brakel's Diachronic Conjunctive Token Physicalism is proposed as a partial remedy for the epistemological gap, but the causal gap and the "hard problem" remain unresolved.

Abstract

Reber’s Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) has much to recommend it. However, while the CBC effectively renders null any ontological gap between mind and body, it leaves two important remaining gaps unaddressed: the epistemologic and the causal gap. Brakel’s (2013) Diachronic Conjunctive Token Physicalism (DiCoToP) is briefly introduced as a beginning remedy for the epistemologic, but unfortunately not the causal, gap. Thus the “hard problem” remains both hard and problematic.

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