The 'hard' problem of consciousness is continually reproduced and made harder by all attempts to solve it

Read, Rupert (2008) The 'hard' problem of consciousness is continually reproduced and made harder by all attempts to solve it. Theory, Culture and Society, 25 (2). pp. 51-86. ISSN 0263-2764

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Abstract

I argue that the so-called 'hard' problem of consciousness ' the problem of how consciousness is possible at all, and how it 'connects' with matter ' is only an artefact of the ways in which human scientists approach consciousness and (more generally) mind. Putting the point paradoxically but also quite precisely: the efforts to solve the mind'body problem, and this its latest variant form, are the very disease of which they take themselves to be the cure. I give examples drawn from sociology and from philosophy to support this claim, and then try to mitigate this vicious consequence of Cognitivism in both disciplines by offering a Wittgensteinian dissolution of the (pseudo-)problem as an alternative to (hopeless) cognitivist efforts to solve it.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	chomsky,colin mcginn,dance,dancer,fodor,wittgenstein,cognition,consciousness,ludwig joseph johann,cognitivism,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Wittgenstein
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2010 13:58
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:25
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/10009
DOI:	10.1177/0263276407086791

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