Detecting Qualia

 

The hard problem of consciousness really is hard, and what makes it so hard is accounting for the contents of experience: qualia. This talk will consider several theories of mind, and briefly discuss their shortcomings when explaining qualia. It will be proposed that these theories have been looking in the wrong place. To give one example, when we peer in the brain, no matter how hard we try and with whatever methods we use, we can’t seem to find qualia. Yet when we observe the world, qualia are everywhere: colors, sounds, tastes, smells. Perhaps, then, we need to look outward. In order to overcome the difficulties of previous theories, and make progress in understanding qualia, it will be suggested that the senses should be interpreted as physical detectors. A new theory will be proposed which retains multiple realizability while allowing for a scientifically-based approach towards accounting for qualia in the natural world.

Speaker: Paul Skokowski, University of Oxford

Room 126