Consciousness Flashcards
Panpsychism
the notion that all objects possess some level of consciousness or mind
Consciousness
- our subjective experience of the world and of our mental activity
- Consciousness is a subjective state/experience
- it’s what you’re aware of right now
Mind-body problem
Cartesian dualism
Rene Descartes
- Mind has to be separate from the body because you go to heaven or hell when you die
mind-body problem
Theater of the mind
R. Descartes theory of consciousness
- mini dude living in your brain
mind-body problem
Materialism
- the brain enables the mind
- suggests everything about the mind can be explained by the physical workings of the brain and nervous system
- can it be studied? what’s it like to be a bat? (Nagel)
Helmhotz’s unconscious inference
- we aren’t aware of the building process of our concious experiences
- its based on past experiences
Sentience
- refers to the subjectivity of consciousness (based on personal experiences)
Qualia
- the properties of our subjective, phenomenology awareness
- Your subjective experience of the world
- The world through your eyes
- Not the same as everyone else’s (ex. Colours)
David Chalmers
Easy questions
- explain how the brain performs specific functions (ex. attention, decision-making, etc.)
David Chalmers
Hard questions
- trying to explain subjective experiences
- trouble connecting the physical processes in the brain to the inner feeling of consciousness
- ex. why does music make you feel a certain way?
can consciousness be studied empirically?
no - it’s metaphysical
- i don’t know what its like to be a bat
- it’s an abstract concept that we won’t be able to understand entirely
can consciousness be studied empirically?
no - it’s beyond our cognitive ability
- humans will never be smart enough to figure it out
- consciousness is not a self-observing system
Cognitive closure
- a philosophical position that the human mind is incapable of solving certain philosophical problems
- ex. consciousness
can consciousness be studied empirically?
yes - 2 reasons
- we just don’t have the technology yet
- we’re already close
Helmholtz - awareness
2 things driving our behaviour at any time
- unconscious influence (ex. priming, automaticity)
- cognitive control (ex. effort into a task) requires attention
Anosognosia
denial of illness
Anton syndrome
- someone who is blind but denies it
- your brain wants a cohesive understanding of everything so it fills in the gaps for you
2 characteristics of free-will
- intentionality (ex. my arm moves when I decide - intention is followed by planning and execution)
- agency (i was the one who moved it)
Introspection illusion
- a cognitive illusion that leads us to believe that we have direct insight into our mental states
- We believe our introspections are accurate - ex. It was my idea to move my arm
we are unaware of our unawareness but we confabulate explanations anyway (ex. I chose this yogurt because __ )
choice blindness
concurrent detection
- ability to notice that a choice has changed while it’s being made
choice blindness
sensory change
- not being able to detect the change of something such as taste (ex. having to keep switching back and fourth between testings to notice a difference)
choice blindness
retrospective detection
- someone notices that a change was made only after they’re told that it may have happenes (OHHHHH)
how are intentionality and agency only an illusion?
- they are triggered areas of the brain
- the brain wants everything to make sense so it makes you feel like you have these things when in reality you start a movement 1/2 seconds before you actually decide to move
- the brain is doing everything
- brain moves your arm but then tells you you’re the one who did it (ad hoc revisionism)
Delusionalism
- free will is an illusion created by the brain to “make it make sense”
