Dennett on qualia: The case of pain, smell and taste

Philosophical Psychology 13 (4):505 – 522 (2000)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Dennett has maintained that a careful examination of our intuitive notion of qualia reveals that it is a confused notion, that it is advisable to accept that experience does not have the properties designated by it and that it is best to eliminate it. Because most scientists share this notion of qualia, the major line of attack of his project becomes that of raising objections against the ability of science to answer some basic questions about qualia. I try to show that science appeals to qualia and that it in fact adheres to a notion of qualia different from the one that Dennett has attributed to it. It is argued that qualia are amenable to scientific investigation and that this is the reason why science contributes toward the clarification of the notion of qualia. I also try to show that Dennett's skepticism about the abilities of science in answering questions posited by one of his thought experiments is unwarranted. I conclude that we need not accept Dennett's eliminativism about qualia.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 102,248

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Qualifying Qualia Through the Skyhook Test.Tere Vadén - 2001 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 44 (2):149-169.
Eliminating Eliminativism.Jason Harlan - 2016 - The Oxford Philosophical Society (OUDCE) Annual Review 38 (Autumn/Winter 2016):8-10.
Quining qualia Quine's way.Don Ross - 1993 - Dialogue 32 (3):439-59.
The qualities of qualia.David de Léon - 1997 - Communication and Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly Journal 34 (1):121-138.
Blindsight in debates about qualia.Jason Holt - 1999 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 6 (5):54-71.
Qualia that it is right to Quine.Manuel Garcia-Carpintero - 2003 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67 (2):357-377.
Naturalizing phenomenology? Dretske on qualia.Ronald McIntyre - 1999 - In Jean Petitot, Francisco J. Varela, Bernard Pachoud & Jean-Michel Roy (eds.), Naturalizing Phenomenology: Issues in Contemporary Phenomenology and Cognitive Science. Stanford University Press. pp. 429--439.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
212 (#121,485)

6 months
10 (#425,272)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?