Iteration Is Essential
Cambridge University Press eBooks June 27, 2011 DOI: 10.1017/cbo9780511842627.011 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that consciousness science must adopt an iterative method of successive approximations to faithfully apprehend pristine experience, contending that this constraint is fundamental yet largely overlooked. The author claims that without such iteration, discoveries like the fragmented multiplicity of bulimia and the speculative nature of slow-forming or black-and-white images would not have been possible. |
Abstract
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. – Francis Bacon In Chapter 5, we noticed this constraint: The exploration of pristine experience has to be iterative . As we turn the screw ever more securely into the notion of faithfully apprehending experience, it's time to return to that constraint, which I think is of fundamental but largely overlooked importance to consciousness science. We could not have discovered the fragmented multiplicity of bulimia (Chapter 2) without an iterative method; we could not have made the slow-forming images or black-and-white images speculations (Chapter 9) without an iterative method. This chapter explains why. I use iterative in the same way a mathematician uses it: a series of successive approximations leading to a satisfactorily close approximate solution. Suppose a mathematician uses an iterative method to determine the value of x when f ( x ) = F. She guesses an initial value x 1 and determines f ( x 1 ). If f ( x 1 ) is satisfactorily close to F, then she's done: x 1 is the desired solution. Otherwise, she uses this new information ( f ( x 1 )) to make a second (better) guess x 2 and then determines f ( x 2 ). If f ( x 2 ) is satisfactorily close to F, then she's done: x 2 is the desired solution. Otherwise she uses this new information ( f ( x 2 )) to make a third (even better) guess x 3 .