Online research in philosophy

How should we understand the relationship between conscious perception and action? Does an appeal to action have any place in an account of colour experience? This essay aims to shed light on the first question by giving a positive response to the second. I consider two types of enactive approach to perceptual consciousness, and two types of account of colour perception. Each approach to colour perception faces serious objections. However, the two views can be combined in a way that resists the criticisms to each. Furthermore, the hybrid view we arrive at lets us see which enactive account of perceptual consciousness we should prefer in the case of colour.

We use the spaces T n and E n of complete types and of existential types to investigate various notions which appear in the theory of the algebraic structure of models.

In recent philosophy of mind, it is often assumed that consciousness and self-consciousness are two separate phenomena. In this paper, I argue that this is not quite right. The argument proceeds in two phases. First, I draw a distinction between (i) being self-conscious of a thought that p and (ii) self-consciously thinking that p. I call the former transitive self-consciousness and the latter intransitive self-consciousness. I then argue that consciousness does depend on intransitive self-consciousness, and that the common reasons for denying the dependence of consciousness upon self-consciousness apply only to transitive self-consciousness.

Non-invasive neuroimaging in humans permits direct investigation of the potential role for mesodiencephalic structures in consciousness. Activity in the superior colliculus can be correlated with the contents of consciousness, but it can be also identified for stimuli of which the subject is unaware; and consciousness of some types of visual stimuli may not require the superior colliculus. (Published Online May 1 2007).

Consciousness is often rendered causally and functionally inert, something which I deem deeply wrong. The actual cause of this misconception is not Cartesian, but Frege’an Dualism which is owed to the implicit assumption of the type-identity theory of language and cognition which equates cognitive types with linguistic or quasi-linguistic types by isomorphically mapping linguistic types on cognitive types and which is a massive blow in the face of a functionalistic-mechanistic explanation of cognition and everyday-folk phenomenological analysis. If we conceive paradigmatically of conscious (e.g. conceptual) thought linguistically and if we conceive of unconscious (e.g. conceptual) cognition linguistically too, then consciousness, particularly if phenomenal experience is conceived of the way it standardly is by philosophers, is inert. However, this type-identity theory is deeply flawed and I propose a framework which builds on a phenomenology of particularly visual-spatial consciousness, a generic embodied cognition framework and a mechanistic and principle naturalist framework of explanation. As a result, we will encounter a picture of cognition which is strongly bound to consciousness and a complex and dynamic sensori-emotio-motor view of the format of cognition which is able to deal more satisfactorily with a plethora of phenomena which we deem genuinely online and offline cognitive than the linguistic view.

A new phenomenological framework for the characterization of human consciousness is presented. The theory is introduced in several stages - making distinctions concerning types of consciousness, levels, parameters, functional features and dynamic operations. The phenomenology encompasses both ordinary and non-ordinary states of mind. It appears that in its totality the phenomenology of human consciousness comprises a well- structured system exhibiting coherence and internal structure. In addition, this framework presents a new approach for cognitive research, methodologically as well as theoretically. Observations concerning the intellectual challenge of consciousness are.

The catastrophe of the eye -- A new view of seeing -- Applying the new view of seeing -- The illusion of seeing everything -- Some contentious points -- Towards consciousness -- Types of consciousness -- Phenomenal consciousness, raw feel, and why they're hard -- Squeeze a sponge, drive a porsche : a sensorimotor account of feel -- Consciously experiencing a feel -- The sensorimotor approach to color -- Sensory substitution -- The localization of touch -- The phenomenality plot -- Consciousness.

My aim in this paper is to show that consciousness entails self-consciousness by focusing on the relationship between consciousness and memory. More specifically, I addreess the following questions: (1) does consciousness require episodic memory?; and (2) does episodic memory require self-consciousness? With the aid of some Kantian considerations and recent empirical data, it is argued that consciousness does require episodic memory. This is done after defining episodic memory and distinguishing it from other types of memory. An affirmative answer to (2) is also warranted especially in the light of the issues raised in answering (1). I claim that 'consciousness entails self-consciousness' is thereby shown via the route through episodic memory, i.e. via affirmative answers to (1) and (2). My aim is to revive this Kantian thesis and to bring together current psychological research on amnesia with traditional philosophical perspectives on consciousness and memory.

Defining consciousness along the lines of Nagel, an organism has consciousness iff there is something it is like to be that organism, I relate three types of consciousness (phenomenal, access and reflexive) to the three types of short-term memory (sensory memories, short-term working memory and the central executive). The suggestion is that these short-term memory stores may be a key feature of consciousness.