Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T20:20:18.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Superblindsight, Inverse Anton, and tweaking A-consciousness further

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2004

Oliver Kauffmann*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, DK-2300 S., Denmark

Abstract

It is argued that Block's thought experiment on superblindsight and “the Inverse Anton's syndrome” are not cases of A-consciousness without P-consciousness. “Weak dispositional states” should be excluded from the set of A-conscious states, and a subject's being reflectively conscious of a P-conscious state is suggested as a better candidate for A-consciousness. It is further pointed out that dreams, according to Block's own criterion but contrary to what he claims, are A-unconscious and it is argued that Block should not accept the idea that high-information representational content is an empirically sufficient condition of phenomenality in human beings.

Type
Continuing Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antony, M. V. (2001) Is “consciousness” ambiguous? Journal of Consciousness Studies 8(2):19-44. [MVA]Google Scholar
Antony, M. V. (2002) Concepts of consciousness, kinds of consciousness, meanings of “consciousness.” Philosophical Studies 109:1-16. [MVA]Google Scholar
Block, N. (1995t) On a confusion about a function of consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):227-47. [MVA, OK]Google Scholar
Block, N. (1995r) How many concepts of consciousness? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):272-84. [OK]Google Scholar
Block, N. (1996) How not to find the neural correlate of consciousness. Trends in Neuroscience 19(2):456-59. [OK]Google Scholar
Block, N. (1997) Biology versus computation in the study of consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20(1):159-65. [OK]Google Scholar
Bogen, J. E. (1997) An example of access-consciousness without phenomenal consciousness? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20(1):144. [OK]Google Scholar
Brazdil, M., Kuba, R. & Krizova, J. (2000) Inverse Anton's syndrome - Dissociation of perception and consciousness? Ceska A Slovenska Neurologie A Neurochirurgie 63(3):171-74. [OK]Google Scholar
Burge, T. (1997) Two kinds of consciousness. In: The nature of consciousness. Philosophical debates, ed. Block, N., Flanagan, O. & Güzeldere, G., pp. 427-33. MIT Press. [OK]Google Scholar
Chalmers, D. J. (1996) The conscious mind. Oxford University Press. [MVA]Google Scholar
Chalmers, D. J. (1997) Availability: The cognitive basis of experience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20(1):148-49. [OK]Google Scholar
Church, J. (1995) Fallacies or analyses? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):251- 52. [OK]Google Scholar
Cruse, D. (1986) Lexical semantics. Cambridge University Press. [MVA]Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1995) The path not taken. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):252-53. [OK]Google Scholar
Goebel, R., Muckli, L., Zanella, F. E., Singer, W. & Stoerig, P. (2001) Sustained extrastriate cortical activation without visual awareness revealed by fMRI studies of hemianopic patients. Vision Research 41(10-11):1459-74. [OK]Google Scholar
Goodale, M. A. & Milner, A. D. (1992) Separate visual pathways for perception and action. Trends in Neuroscience 15(1):20-25. [OK]Google Scholar
Hartmann, J. A., Wolz, W. A., Roeltgen, D. P. & Loverso, F. L. (1991) Denial of visual perception. Brain and Cognition 16:29-40. [OK]Google Scholar
Humphrey, N. (1992) A history of the mind. Simon & Schuster. [OK]Google Scholar
Kobes, B. W. (1995) Access and what it is like. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):260. [OK]Google Scholar
Levine, J. (1995) Phenomenal access: A moving target. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):261. [OK]Google Scholar
Lloyd, D. (1995) Access denied. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):261-62. [OK]Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977) Semantics, vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. [MVA]Google Scholar
Milner, A. D. & Goodale, M. A. (1995) The visual brain in action. Oxford University Press. [OK]Google Scholar
Nelkin, N. (1996) Consciousness and the origins of thought. Cambridge University Press. [OK]Google Scholar
Pustejovsky, J. (1996) The generative lexicon. MIT Press. [MVA]Google Scholar
Revonsuo, A. (1995) Conscious and nonconscious control of action. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18(2):265-66. [OK]Google Scholar
Revonsuo, A., Johanson, M., Wedlund, J.-E. & Chaplin, J. (2000) The zombies among us: Consciousness and automatic behaviour. In: Beyond dissociation. Interaction between dissociated implicit and explicit processing. Advances in Consciousness Research, vol. 22, ed. Rossetti, Y & Revonsuo, A.. John Benjamins. [OK]Google Scholar
Rosenthal, D. M. (1997) Phenomenal consciousness and what it's like. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 20(1):156-57. [OK]Google Scholar
Stich, S. P. (1978) Beliefs and subdoxastic states. Philosophy of Science 45:499-518. [OK]Google Scholar
Stoerig, P. (1997) Phenomenal vision and apperception: Evidence from blindsight. Mind and Language 12(2):224-37. [OK]Google Scholar
Vision, G. (1998) Blindsight and philosophy. Philosophical Psychology 11(2):137-59. [OK]Google Scholar