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The two dominant theories of consciousness argue it appeared in living beings either suddenly, or gradually. Both theories face problems. The solution is the realization that a foundational consciousness was always here, yet varying conscious states were not, and appeared gradually. Michael Tye explores this idea and the key questions it raises.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: A Paradox of Consciousness
- 2: Russellian Monism to the Rescue?
- 3: Transparency and Representationalism
- 4: Representationalism and Panpsychism
- 5: The Location of Consciousness
- Bibliography
About the author
Michael Tye is the Dallas TACA Centennial Professor in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at Temple University, St Andrews, and King's College, London. His main area of interest is consciousness, and he has also written on mental imagery, the nature of thought, and vagueness. He is the author of Tense Bees and Shell-Shocked Crabs (OUP, 2016).
Summary
When Alice steps through the looking-glass, she encounters a peculiar world where she meets animated chess pieces, characters from nursery rhymes, and talking animals. Everything there is inside out and upside down: so it is with consciousness.
Reflecting on the inception of consciousness, it is natural to suppose that there are just two alternatives. Either consciousness appeared in living beings suddenly, like a light switch turning on, or it appeared gradually, just as life did, through a range of borderline cases. For the former theory, consciousness is an on/off matter, but once it was there it became richer over time, like a beam of light becoming brighter and broader in its sweep. For the latter theory this is not the case. There are shades of gray. There is no one moment at which consciousness appeared.
Unfortunately, both alternatives face deep problems. The solution to these problems lies in the realization, strange as it may be, that a key element of consciousness itself was always here, as a fundamental feature of micro-reality. Varying conscious states were not, however: they appeared gradually. In Vagueness and the Evolution of Consciousness, Michael Tye explains in detail how this can be so. He also addresses questions about the location of consciousness in the brain, the causal efficacy of consciousness with respect to behaviour, and the extent of consciousness in the animal world.
Additional text
A valuable work on a notoriously hard question
