The Problems of Consciousness

Wants to hold on to the notion of consciousness as an inherently unexplainable phenomenon. More so, really, that the traditional problems of consciousness are not solved by Dennett's disillusionment of this pseudo-Cartesian outlook.



THE obvious problem I see in this bizarre debate is that when Block says the word consciousness, he means something very different than what Dennett means when he utters the word consciousness. Dennett thinks of consciousness as the cartesian theater, a hypothesis with no physiological justification in the brain. Block, on the other hand, seems to be addressing the mysterious process that Dennett alludes to when he speaks of the brains wonderful ability to produce this illusion. It seems as though Block, believes that Dennet is saying that this unity does not exist. On the contrary, Dennett when saying illusion, means that the brain REALLY IS producing this unity, but that it has very little justification in reality.