Consciousness and the Cartesian Theater

From: Brent Allsop (allsop@swttools.fc.hp.com)
Date: Sun Jun 15 1997 - 21:54:23 MDT


Perry E. Metzger <perry@piermont.com> commented:

> You appear to be arguing for the so-called "Cartesian Theater",

        No, there is a sub being or homunculous in the cartesian
theatre watching the show. I'm not saying there is entity watching
the show. I'm saying the show is the conscious awarenes. Our
knowledge of the tree is the conscious representation of the tree in
our mind.

> Are you familiar with Dennett's arguments on the subject?

        Yes, He basically argues that: we don't have qualia, "It just
seems that we do". (Quote from Consciousness explained.)

        But this is absurd if you think about it. An inacurate
seeming is some conscious knowledge that we have that does not
acurately model what it is suposed to represent. So he is basically
simply arguing we don't have qualia, we just have qualia that falsely
represents the fact that we have qualia. An obviously silly statement
that assumes we have qualia to start with.

        Brent Allsop



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