Projecting the Trees but Ignoring the Forest: A Brief Critique of Alfredo Pereira Jr.’s Target Essay

Trans/Form/Ação 41 (s1):269-292 (2018)
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Abstract

Pereira’s “The Projective Theory of Consciousness” is an experimental statement, drawing on many diverse sources, exploring how consciousness might be produced by a projective mechanism that results both in private selves and an experienced world. Unfortunately, pulling together so many unrelated sources and methods means none gets full attention. Furthermore, it seems to me that the uncomfortable breadth of this paper unnecessarily complicates his project; in fact it may hide what it seeks to reveal. If this conglomeration of diverse sources and methods were compared to trees, the reader may feel like the explorer who cannot see the forest for the trees. Then again, it may be the author who is so preoccupied with foreground figures that the everpresent background is ultimately obscured.

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Gregory Michael Nixon
Louisiana State University (PhD)

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References found in this work

Neurophenomenology: A methodological remedy for the hard problem.F. Varela - 1996 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 3 (4):330-49.
The puzzle of conscious experience.David J. Chalmers - 1995 - Scientific American 273 (6):80-86.
Understanding Consciousness.Max Velmans - 2000 - London: Routledge.
Panpsychism and Neutral Monism: How to make up One's Mind.Sam Coleman - 2016 - In Godehard Brüntrup & Ludwig Jaskolla (eds.), Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA.

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