Come Out Wherever You Are: In Search of Consciousness September 21st, 2024 at 2:30PM Future Event Panpsychism is the lightly subscribed philosophical position that consciousness is a property of all matter, large and small, simple and complex, alive and inert. According to panpsychism mind is everywhere. Eliminativism is the view that consciousness, at least what most of us consider our mind’s eye access to reality (phenomenal consciousness), exists quite literally nowhere, not even in our brains. According to this view, consciousness and its associated qualia are illusions. Between panpsychism and eliminativism there are quite a few alternative accounts of what consciousness is, but most adhere to the notion that it is demonstrably localizable and that its location is in the brain. The brain receives information inbound from Nature, which it represents and then responds to by predicting, constantly updating and predicting, how things in the world go. This general approach to consciousness is currently how most investigators in the field of consciousness studies are oriented, with several competing theories all falling within this framework. A relatively recent addition to this collection of metaphysical/scientific positions is the view that our minds grow and exist as a dynamic amalgam of the world, our bodies, and our brains; that it extends from our bodies out into the world; that our perceptions of an “out there” do not simply represent that space but are in fact, in part, out there in space. This approach has evolved into what is now known as 4E Cognition. The four E’s stand for extended, embedded, embodied, and enacted. While pulling up short of panpsychism, it pushes out and away from the purely brain-centered view of consciousness. This Roundtable intends to look into the debate about the where and wherefore of consciousness, with Eliminativism and 4E Cognition taken up: two fascinating and counterintuitive attempts to provide answers. Participants: Katalin Balog Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University Katalin Balog is a philosopher of mind interested in the nature of mind, self, consciousness, subjectivity, and value, as well as the history of these concepts. She write both scholarly articles and essays for a general audience (her webpage). Her scholarly work has been mostly on consciousness and the mind-body problem, with a recent focus on… read more » Paul Boghossian Silver Professor of Philosophy, NYU Director, Global Institute for Advanced Study, NYU Paul Artin Boghossian is Silver Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Director of its Global Institute for Advanced Study. He earned a PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University and a B.Sc. in Physics from Trent University. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012, his research interests are primarily in epistemology, the philosophy… read more » Amy Cook Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, Stony Brook University Professor of English, Stony Brooky University View Papers / Presentations » Amy Cook is the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at Stony Brook University and Professor of English. Most recently, she published “Shadow Play: Loss and Performativity” in TDR about art, mourning, and 4E cognition. Her scholarship integrates research from the cognitive sciences into theatre and performance, with particular attention to Shakespeare. She has published Shakespearean Futures: casting the bodies of tomorrow on… read more » John Hunter Professor, Comparative Humanities, Bucknell University Director of the Comparative & Digital Humanities Program, Bucknell University John Hunter is Professor and Director of the Comparative & Digital Humanities Program at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. His teaching focuses on the cultural effects of digital networks, computing, robotics, and artificial intelligence, with an especial interest in how these processes are represented in cinema and television. He began his career as a literature scholar… read more » Barbara Montero Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Barbara Montero is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Her research concerns two notions of “body”: body as the physical or material substance of the world, and body as the moving, breathing, flesh and blood instrument we use when we run, walk, dance, or play. One side of this bifurcation comprises her work on… read more »
Katalin Balog Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University Katalin Balog is a philosopher of mind interested in the nature of mind, self, consciousness, subjectivity, and value, as well as the history of these concepts. She write both scholarly articles and essays for a general audience (her webpage). Her scholarly work has been mostly on consciousness and the mind-body problem, with a recent focus on… read more »
Paul Boghossian Silver Professor of Philosophy, NYU Director, Global Institute for Advanced Study, NYU Paul Artin Boghossian is Silver Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Director of its Global Institute for Advanced Study. He earned a PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University and a B.Sc. in Physics from Trent University. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012, his research interests are primarily in epistemology, the philosophy… read more »
Amy Cook Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, Stony Brook University Professor of English, Stony Brooky University View Papers / Presentations » Amy Cook is the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at Stony Brook University and Professor of English. Most recently, she published “Shadow Play: Loss and Performativity” in TDR about art, mourning, and 4E cognition. Her scholarship integrates research from the cognitive sciences into theatre and performance, with particular attention to Shakespeare. She has published Shakespearean Futures: casting the bodies of tomorrow on… read more »
John Hunter Professor, Comparative Humanities, Bucknell University Director of the Comparative & Digital Humanities Program, Bucknell University John Hunter is Professor and Director of the Comparative & Digital Humanities Program at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. His teaching focuses on the cultural effects of digital networks, computing, robotics, and artificial intelligence, with an especial interest in how these processes are represented in cinema and television. He began his career as a literature scholar… read more »
Barbara Montero Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Barbara Montero is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Her research concerns two notions of “body”: body as the physical or material substance of the world, and body as the moving, breathing, flesh and blood instrument we use when we run, walk, dance, or play. One side of this bifurcation comprises her work on… read more »