Never Mind the Gap: Neurophenomenology, Radical Enactivism, and the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Constructivist Foundations 11 (2):346–353 (2016)
Abstract
Context: Neurophenomenology, as formulated by Varela, offers an approach to the science of consciousness that seeks to get beyond the hard problem of consciousness. There is much to admire in the practical approach to the science of consciousness that neurophenomenology advocates. Problem: Even so, this article argues, the metaphysical commitments of the enterprise require a firmer foundation. The root problem is that neurophenomenology, as classically formulated by Varela, endorses a form of non-reductionism that, despite its ambitions, assumes rather than dissolves the hard problem of consciousness. We expose that neurophenomenology is not a natural solution to that problem. We defend the view that whatever else neurophenomenology might achieve, it cannot close the gap between the phenomenal and the physical if there is no such gap to close. Method: Building on radical enactive and embodied approaches to cognitive science that deny that the phenomenal and the physical are metaphysically distinct, this article shows that the only way to deal properly with the hard problem is by denying the metaphysical distinction between the physical and the phenomenal that gives the hard problem life. Results: This article concludes by discussing how neurophenomenology might be reformulated under the auspices of a radically enactive and embodied account of cognition. That is, only by denying that there are two distinct phenomena - the physical and the phenomenal - can the neurophenomenological project get on with addressing its pragmatic problems of showing how neuroscientists may be guided by first-person data in their analysis of third-person experimental data, and vice versa. Implications: The topic addressed in this article is of direct value to consciousness studies in general and specifically for the project of neurophenomenology. If the neurophenomenological project is to deal with the hard problem, it must denude itself of its non-reductionist background assumption and embrace a strict identity thesis. Constructivist content: Radical enactive and embodied approaches to mind and consciousness adopt a view of consciousness as a dynamic activity - something an organism enacts in ongoing engagement with its environment. These approaches therefore share with constructivist approaches an action-based view of mind.Author's Profile
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Citations of this work
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Neurophenomenology – The Case of Studying Self Boundaries With Meditators.Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Yair Dor-Ziderman, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Yoav Schweitzer, Ohad Nave, Stephen Fulder & Yochai Ataria - 2020 - Frontiers in Psychology 11.
Dynamical Emergence Theory (DET): A Computational Account of Phenomenal Consciousness.Roy Moyal, Tomer Fekete & Shimon Edelman - 2020 - Minds and Machines 30 (1):1-21.
Representation and Extension in Consciousness Studies.Zsuzsanna Kondor - 2017 - Avant: Trends in Interdisciplinary Studies 8 (1):209-227.
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Befuddling the mind: radical Enactivism (Hutto-Myin style) and the metaphysics of experience.Itay Shani - 2021 - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 20 (1):39-56.