| Title |
Can self-representationalism explain away the apparent irreducibility of consciousness?
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Synthese, July 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11229-015-0806-1 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Tom McClelland |
| Abstract |
Kriegel's self-representationalist (SR) theory of phenomenal consciousness pursues two projects. The first is to offer a positive account of how conscious experience arises from physical brain processes. The second is to explain why consciousness misleadingly appears to be irreducible to the physical i.e. to 'demystify' consciousness. This paper seeks to determine whether SR succeeds on the second project. Kriegel trades on a distinction between the subjective character and qualitative character of conscious states. Subjective character is the property of being a conscious state at all, while qualitative character determines what it is like to be in that state. Kriegel claims that SR explains why subjective character misleadingly appears irreducible, thereby neutralising the apparent irreducibility of consciousness. I argue that although SR credibly demystifies subjective character, it cannot explain why qualitative character also appears irreducible. I conclude that we should pursue the possibility of a hybrid position that combines SR with an account that does explain the apparent irreducibility of qualitative character. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 16 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2 | 13% |
| Canada | 1 | 6% |
| Ireland | 1 | 6% |
| Comoros | 1 | 6% |
| Australia | 1 | 6% |
| Unknown | 10 | 63% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 13 | 81% |
| Scientists | 3 | 19% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 15 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 1 | 7% |
| Unknown | 14 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 33% |
| Researcher | 3 | 20% |
| Student > Bachelor | 2 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 2 | 13% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 1 | 7% |
| Other | 1 | 7% |
| Unknown | 1 | 7% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | 5 | 33% |
| Neuroscience | 3 | 20% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 13% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 7% |
| Arts and Humanities | 1 | 7% |
| Other | 1 | 7% |
| Unknown | 2 | 13% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 September 2016.
All research outputs
#3,499,934
of 24,777,509 outputs
Outputs from Synthese
#314
of 2,657 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#43,235
of 268,144 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Synthese
#6
of 38 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,777,509 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 85th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,657 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.9. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 268,144 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 38 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its contemporaries.