Questions tagged [consciousness]

Consciousness, and related notions like sentience and self-awareness, denote the capacity of certain organisms to express recognition of their own presence in the world.

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Is it possible for there to be an AI chatbot that is a philosophical non-zombie?

Afaik, the current philosophical consensus is that chatbots like ChatGPT are not conscious. However, in analogy with philosophical zombies, would it be possible to have a "philosophical ChatGPT&...
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Can rocks suffer on panpsychism?

On panpsychism, everything has consciousness. If so, does it entail that all entities in the universe, such as rocks, bricks, plants, water, air, etc., can experience suffering? If this holds, what ...
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Is it even possible to know, from the outside, whether a physical system is conscious?

I take it for granted that other humans, and other higher animals like chimpanzees and dogs and cats, are conscious. But is it even possible to know, from the outside, whether a physical system is ...
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Can one be cruel to nonsentient things?

I recently read a paper in the journal "Analysis" titled, "Can one be cruel to a chair?". This got me thinking, can people be cruel to nonsentient objects? I believe that, while ...
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Should the evidence of OBEs and NDEs increase our epistemic probability of non-physicalist views of consciousness?

Should reports of out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs) increase our epistemic probability of non-physicalist views of consciousness? In other words, should we judge non-...
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Is the fundamental nature of knowledge intimately linked to the fundamental nature of minds (consciousness)?

This is a follow-up to Is knowledge non-physical?. Can knowledge exist outside of minds? Can something devoid of consciousness truly possess knowledge? Consider objects like books, inscribed rocks, ...
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Location of Soul

Colloquially, we often have a notion that souls are like some sort of ghosts or "cloud inside a bottle" that leave body after death. I feel the notion of soul in a bit different way. I feel ...
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To what extent are reasoning and arguments essential to bridge the gap from sense perception to the belief in an external world?

Let A denote the set of sense perceptions of a conscious being, and let B represent that conscious being's belief in the existence of an external world. Sense perceptions include sight, hearing, touch,...
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What exactly is identity theory?

On the discussion related to the question here, there seemed to be many disagreements between users in regards to identity theory and its implications on whether psychophysical harmony needs ...
Baby_philosopher's user avatar
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Under reductive materialism, could the same brain state evoke distinct conscious experiences (qualia) in two universes within a multiverse?

For the sake of discussion, let's grant the validity of reductive materialism. Moreover, let's entertain the notion that our universe is just one among an infinite (or significantly vast) number of ...
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How philosopher who claims that they not a p-zombie could be so confident that everyone else are not p-zombie?

There is exists an interesting concept of philosophical zombie. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie To understand problem behind that concept, there is also interesting movie series ...
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Does psychophysical harmony strongly point toward theism?

From Psychophysical Harmony: A New Argument for Theism, by Brian Cutter & Dustin Crummett: Abstract This paper develops a new argument from consciousness to theism: the argument from ...
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Which philosopher fits the following description? [closed]

I'm not a philosopher so please forgive me if this question does not belong here here is a list of my interpretation of other philosophers that I'm familiar with Their names Their words My ...
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The "object" notion of consciousness

Consider the following perspective: Consciousness is associated with (but not identified with) mental events describing its contents. For example, the thought, "I see a dog" can be ...
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What would happen if I suddenly lost consciousness?

What would happen if I (my body) suddenly lost consciousness? Let's say a freak accident caused the part of my brain responsible for connecting/creating/hallucinating my "being", my ...
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Is the act of discussing mental events itself a refutation of epiphenomenalism?

If I didn't experience consciousness mentally then I couldn't talk about consciousness with my physical mouth or write about consciousness with my physical hands. Is this an instance of mental events ...
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On the conceivability of philosophical zombies [duplicate]

A big question in the philosophy of consciousness is whether philosophical zombies are conceivable, and if they are, are they also metaphysically possible. I believe the answer is yes. At least, I can ...
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Can Consciousness be Computationally Reconstructed from a Painting?

Suppose that Pablo Picasso was undergoing an arbitrary conscious experience while putting the finishing touches on Guernica. Would it be possible to reverse-engineer that conscious experience ...
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Is this a statistical argument for reincarnation being almost inevitable?

In a scenario in which we have conscious souls (ignoring all the arguments against that for now), would the following be a statistical argument for reincarnation? Supposing we are in something like an ...
Cat Rat Pup's user avatar
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Does chat-gpt have an unconscious? [closed]

Does chat-gpt have an unconscious? Do you need qualia (which I feel chat-gpt lacks, though in reality I don't know what it is, rather than what it outputs) to have an unconscious, or just the capacity ...
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Is Conscious Awareness of Phenomenal Experience a Correlate of the Constitutive Activity of Kant's Reason?

In the introduction to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason by Marcus Weigelt, Weigelt writes, "Reason, although sometimes understood as the faculty that encompasses all thought (for instance when we ...
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What is It Like to Be a Bat?

This year half a century has passed since Thomas Nagel published his paper “What is It Like to Be a Bat?”, see here. This is a seminal paper. It reaches out far beyond most discussions on the problem ...
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Deterministic simulation and Pascal's mugging

So the canonical description of Pascal's mugging involves simulation, and torment, of a large number of self-aware beings. What makes it even worse is that it involves a Turing machine doing the ...
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About the validity of the Zombie concept

Related Posts that I read: why zombies' existence imply physicalism is false "Could all of us be zombies" assumption Context Just to make sure we talk about the same type of Zombie, here ...
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Is consciousness universal?

I have just read "Why" by Philip Goff. He proposes that matter consists of conscious entities. Physics based on mathematics tells us what matter does, not what it is. This has implications ...
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Consciousness by John Searle

In a referenced interview, Searle outlines a condensed theory of consciousness with three key assumptions: Consciousness is real, including illusions. It is caused by brain processes (neural ...
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Why do I have the perception of a chair (or other objects) ? - first person experience question

I'm asking variations of this question (in discussions elsewhere). Some people seem to get what I mean, and say "I think that important etc etc but I do not know the answer" and others say &...
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Where would consciousness be located in a machine? [closed]

The conscious thought I experience is behind my eyes and is located within my skull. I assume that experience is common. however, it may not be? In replicating consciousness in a machine such as a ...
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physio-philosophical view of the phenomenon/appearance/representation

This is somewhat a scientific question, but I presume a philosopher could have some interesting spin, or even an answer and be better fit for the question. Why do we have a subjective perception of a ...
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How strong is the argument for quantum mind theory?

I know little about philosophy and I've been reading into consciousness. From an uneducated view, David Pearce's argument seems strong. https://www.biointelligence-explosion.com/parable.html What ...
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Deeply exploring the idea of subjective experience (question)

Imagine that you feel a burning pain. Let's ask the question from the start, and develop some context afterwards: Is it possible that what we call conscious feeling of burning and pain, just don't ...
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Learning metaphysical truths by introspection

There might be many psychological benefits of meditation and other introspective habits. I'm looking for something different. What metaphysical facts can we discover by this process? How many of these ...
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How do we know if our interpretation of our raw conscious experiences is accurate?

X is a conscious agent. X has the ability to have raw subjective conscious experiences, aka qualia. But beyond merely experiencing qualia, X also has the ability to interpret their qualia, by ...
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What would be the best textbook for a philosophy of mind intro course for psychology majors?

My area of expertise is logic and philosophical logic, but I'll be teaching an introductory course on the philosophy of mind to second semester psychology majors (taking cognitive science as a minor). ...
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What is meditation?

As philosophers, can we provide a compelling definition of “meditation” (as in, the mental practice, originating from certain Asian cultures and traditions). I have personally begun to speculate about ...
Julius Hamilton's user avatar
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Is the fact of consciousness moving through time compatible with a block universe?

We all experience consciousness as moving through time. I wonder, is that fact compatible with a block universe? I actually do believe in the block universe, but I wonder if any philosopher has found ...
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Consciousness and memory as separate entities

Read a article which stated that at birth Consciousness and Memory are separated from each other so that facility of memory can be used when required, use of memory by Consciousness was given the name ...
Junsui's user avatar
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Which view is theoretically more virtuous: (1) metaphysical solipsism, (2) everything is real or (3) some things are real and some are hallucinations?

Let's consider three theories: Metaphysical solipsism. Every subjective conscious experience points to an objective external reality. Some subjective conscious experiences point to an objective ...
Mark's user avatar
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Should the failure to provide a naturalistic explanation for an event increase our credence in a supernatural one? An NDE case study

The question in the title, although meant to be general, is mainly motivated by a specific type of Near-Death Experience (NDE) that currently perplexes me. Specifically, I am referring to NDEs ...
Mark's user avatar
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Is Presentism or Four Dimensionalism compatible with being a conscious observer?

The most striking feature of our experience is the way that it is present simultaneously and persists over short intervals of time. If we ignore illusionism how might our experience be explained by ...
John Sydenham's user avatar
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Is self-awareness necessary to consciousness?

In the act of thought, we often distinguish between the thinking itself and the awareness that 'I am thinking,' representing the thinker. But because the “thinker” is themself a manifestation of ...
WhoAmI's user avatar
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What is beyond time? [closed]

In asking this question many people seemed to think I was talking about time before the big bang. While there are similarities, this is not what I mean. In quantum mechanics it has been found that ...
DanielFBest's user avatar
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4 answers
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Has any philosopher written about the implications of online multiplayer games on shared consciousness?

This question originates from the explanation of Existential Comics 332. When The Matrix came out, the New York Times reached out to philosopher of mind John Searle to write an article about the ...
Purple P's user avatar
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Which is the best explanation of the mind body relation, dualism or physicalism? [closed]

As far a my knowledge of philosophy there is two schools of thought dualism that the human mind is separate from the physical body, and the other school of thought is physicalism that the mind is ...
8Mad0Manc8's user avatar
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Are MUH and IIT compatible

I really like Integrated Information Theory (IIT), i just discovered Mathematical universe hypothesis (MUH) i also feel pretty open to this idea i only wonder if there compatible since IIT disproves ...
Jeroen's user avatar
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Is the classical theory of concepts compatible with logical positivism's view on analyticity of mathematics?

Doing some work on theory of mathematical concepts and need a good framework that suits my own views. Is the classical theory of concepts, which seems to no to suffer very much when considered in ...
user21312's user avatar
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On a reductionist/functionalist account of consciousness, would we have ethical obligations toward robots?

If consciousness arises from specific functions instantiated by physical systems, consider a robot with functions mirroring those found in carbon-based life, particularly in humans. Would this imply ...
Mark's user avatar
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Is consciousness fundamental to the universe?

In January 2023, Entropy published a paper entitled "Fusions of Consciousness" by Hoffman, Prakash and Prentner. They propose that consciousness is fundamental to the universe, rather than ...
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Consciousness and Understanding of Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy

I just finished watching a youtube video Bernard Carr - Why Did Consciousness Emerge? on consciousness and the talkers spend a great deal of time talking about emergent aspect of consciousness and its ...
Alexander's user avatar
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Do qualia cause effects, and if so, do these effects offer survival advantages from an evolutionary standpoint?

Can consciousness (qualia) cause detectable and measurable effects? For example, would we able to tell the difference between a robot that experiences qualia vs. a robot that doesn't, by detecting the ...
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