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How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains?
Max Velmans
January 2003, 96 pages
ISBN 0 907845 398 (paperback), $19.00/£9.50
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"This is a thorough book well worth close reading. Highly recommended."
Human Nature Review
"The volume is full of interesting arguments and provides a manageable
and at times amusing introduction to a classic argument." Susan Blackmore,
THES
"Reflects the state of the art in consciousness studies" Network
"What Velmans establishes with his argument is that the old mind body
problem is not a problem - the distinction is merely one of perspective."
Metapsychology
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In daily life we take it for granted that our minds have conscious control
of our actions, at least for most of the time. But many scientists and
philosophers deny that this is really the case, because there is no generally
accepted theory of how the mind interacts with the body. Max Velmans presents
a non-reductive solution to the problem, in which ‘conscious mental control’
includes ‘voluntary’ operations of the preconscious mind. On this account,
biological determinism is compatible with experienced free will. Velmans’
theory is put to the test by nine critics: Ron Chrisley, Todd Feinberg,
Jeffrey Gray, John Kihlstrom, Sam Rakover, Ramakrishna Rao, Aaron Sloman,
Steve Torrance and
Robert Van Gulick.
Max Velmans is Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of
London.
My target article (henceforth referred to as TA) presents evidence for
causal interactions between consciousness and brain and some standard ways
of accounting for this evidence in clinical practice and neuropsychological
theory. I also point out some of the problems of understanding such causal
interactions that are not addressed by standard explanations. Most of the
residual problems have to do with how to cross the ‘explanatory gap’ from
consciousness to brain. I then list some of the reasons why the route across
this gap suggested by physicalism won’t work, in spite of its current popularity
in consciousness studies. My own suggested route across the explanatory
gap is more subterranean, where consciousness and brain can be seen to
be dual aspects of a unifying, psychophysical mind. Some of the steps on
this deeper route still have to be filled in by empirical research. But
(as far as I can judge) there are no gaps that cannot be filled — just
a different way of understanding consciousness, mind, brain and their causal
interaction, with some interesting consequences for our understanding of
free will. The commentaries on TA examined many aspects of my thesis viewed
from both Western and Eastern perspectives. This reply focuses on how dual-aspect
monism compares with currently popular alternatives such as ‘nonreductive
physicalism’, clarifies my own approach, and reconsiders how well this
addresses the ‘hard’ problems of consciousness. We re-examine how conscious
experiences relate to their physical/functional correlates and whether
useful analogies can be drawn with other, physical relationships that appear
to have dual-aspects. We also examine some fundamental differences between
Western and Eastern thought about whether the existence of the physical
world or the existence of consciousness can be taken for granted (with
consequential differences about which of these is ‘hard’ to understand).
I then suggest a form of dual-aspect Reflexive Monism that might provide
a path between these ancient intellectual traditions that is consistent
with science and with common sense.
Table of Contents
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How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? Max Velmans
Peer Commentary
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The Seductions of Materialism and the Pleasures of Dualism, John F.
Kihlstrom
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Mental Causation: Facing Up to Ontological Subjectivity, Todd E. Feinberg
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The Diffident Physicalist Speaks Out, Steve Torrance
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Non-reduction, Consciousness and Physical Causation, Robert Van Gulick
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It’s Time to Move On from Philosophy to Science, Jeffrey Gray
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Scientific Rules of the Game and the Mind/Body: A Critique Based On the
Theory of Measurement, Sam S. Rakover
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How Velmans’ Conscious Experiences Affected Our Brains, Ron Chrisley
and Aaron Sloman
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Bridging Eastern and Western Perspectives On Consciousness, K. Ramakrishna
Rao
Response to Commentaries
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Making Sense of Causal Interactions Between Consciousness and Brain, Max
Velmans
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