Monday, July 23, 2012

Dan Dennett - A Phenomenal Confusion About Access and Consciousness


On the opening night of the Summer Institute on the Evolution and Function of Consciousness, Dan Dennett gave one of the two opening night lectures (Antonio Damasio gave the other one, but the video has not been posted yet) on the topic of A Phenomenal Confusion About Access and Consciousness (PDF of powerpoint slides). Essentially, he is refuting Ned Block's distinction between access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness (papers linked to below).





Dan Dennett A Phenomenal Confusion About Access and Consciousness
Abstract: Many researchers on consciousness have adopted Ned Block's purported distinction between "access" consciousness and 'phenomenal' consciousness (Block, 1995, 2005, 2007), but in spite of its evident appeal, it is not a defensible distinction. Earlier critiques (Dennett, 1994, 1995, Cohen and Dennett, 2012) have not deterred those who favor the distinction, but perhaps one more exposition of the problems will break through.

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