Ned Block on Consciousness as an Illusion

Ned Block is an American philosopher working in the field of the philosophy of mind who has made important contributions to studies of consciousness and cognitive science. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University under Hilary Putnam and was a professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for many years. He is now the Silver Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Neural Science, at New York University (NYU).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Block

In this clip, Block discusses theories that claim that consciousness is an illusion, and why he thinks that such theories fail to capture the essence of subjective phenomenal experience.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Consciousness
• Illusion
• Daniel Dennett
• Multiple Drafts Model
• Phenomenology
• Philosophy of Mind
• Neurophilosophy
• Materialism
• Physicalism
• Dualism
• Reductionism
• Hard Problem of Consciousness
• Other Minds
• Inverted Spectrum

[Jacko38]

LennyBound has there ever been an interview with Thomas metzinger on this show?

[LennyBound]

@Jacko38 I wish.

If you go to the "Closer to Truth" website there is a section that lists all of the participants and links to their interviews. Hope that helps. :-)

[MetaphysicsAddict]

Taken literally, "consciousness is an illusion" is self-refuting. To say that consciousness is an illusion is to say that people are deluded when they think they're conscious. But delusions pre-suppose consciousness. You can't delude a rock (unless the rock is conscious). Of course, what people often (though not always) mean by "consciousness is an illusion" is that consciousness is completely reducible to (and dependent upon) the brain. If that's the idea, then people should just be explicit.

[RickGrear]

perhaps those people who say that consciousness is an illusion are philosophical zombies. hehe

[SubstancePrime]

Mr. Block was quite lucky to have learned under Hilary Putnam.

[with9isavailable]

@MetaphysicsAddict I agree.  I don't think anyone would really say that consciousness is a real "illusion" in the usual sense of the word.

[zadeh79]

When you knock a dominoe over, it has no-way of perceiving that it is being pushed. The gravity which effects it, is never self-represented abstractly. In this case, the end-product is a simple ramification of the physical world, akin to how binary machines represent and manipulate information at the hardware level. Neither process is aware of the 'illusions', which manifest as a result of the physical events which surround them.

[zadeh79]

@SirDarkStar I have a basic understanding of how nerve cells can respond to changes in heat, and how 'cones and rods' in the eye can respond differently to the various wavelengths and intensities of light. I also have a basic overview of information processing (Short term-Working Memory, long term potentiation). Yet none of these understandings can explain perception.

[SirDarkStar]

@zadeh79 illusion here means 'not what it appears to be' (I see others have pointed this out as well). I really cannot explain fully in a youtube comment. But I'll give you some ideas to research.

One thing brains do is perform bayesian inference functions, it also learns, and calculates predictions based on those inferences.

Do you understand how fairly simply chemistry can function as a sensor - or perform calculations?

[zadeh79]

@SirDarkStar But how do we percieve these illusions of love, hate, jealousy, heat, cold. Just because it's an illusion, doesn't mean that we are at a loss to explain it.

[DeandresPerez1991]

@metaphysicsaddict a if one knows color is an" illusion" that does not exist outside of our mind,then you would have to have existed outside if your five senses, at some point,to attain that knowledge. So my question to you is have you existed in such a state(be careful how you answer).

[SirDarkStar]

@MetaphysicsAddict No, illusion is NOT the same as delusion. The color pink is an illusion, it doesn't exist in reality, only in human minds (and maybe some animals, but NOT all). The appears of an optical ILLUSION (fixed lines appearing to move) is not a delusion - it is a sensory experience but not founded IN reality.

Consciousness exists in the mind, but it doesn't work how it APPEARS to - thus an illusion.

[CronosXIIII]

@MetaphysicsAddict I think what he is getting at is eliminative materialism, and the fact that consciousness is the result of the physical structure of the brain, and the interconnections between the neurons. This theory essentially dispels the notion that consciousness results from having a soul or a seperate non physical mind.

[AnduinX]

@7j8i9m: If you believe you have facts that prove your case then bring on the facts, otherwise, you're not changing any minds.