The Causes of the Hard Problem: A Note
Greg P. Hodes
NeuroQuantology 2018 DOI: 10.14704/nq.2018.16.9.1599 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that efficient causes cannot constitute the immediate cognitively conscious subject-object relation, because efficient causal relations necessarily alter their relata while conscious cognitive relations necessarily do not. The author claims this has important implications for theories of knowledge and consciousness and for "the hard problem." |
Abstract
This note calls attention to the fact that efficient causes – the sort of cause that changes something or makes something happen – can play no constit-utive role in the immediate cognitively conscious relation between cognitive subject and a cognitive object. It argues that: (1) it is a necessary condition for there being an efficient causal relation that it alter its relata; and (2) it is a necessary condition for being a conscious cognitive relation that it does not alter its relata. This has important implication for the theories of knowledge and consciousness,“the hard problem,” and related puzzles.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |