Richard Brown (left) and Pete Mandik (right) on higher-order theories of consciousness.
The higher-order approach aims to explain consciousness in terms of some relation between a conscious state and a representation of that state. Fans of this approach hope that it can pave the way to an account of consciousness that is both informative and amenable to naturalism. Yet higher-order theories face a wide range of interesting problems. In this conversation, Brown and Mandik discuss some of these problems and look for solutions to them.
Related works
by Brown:
“The Higher-Order Approach to Consciousness: The Hot Ticket or In Hot Water?” (draft)
“Deprioritizing the A Priori Arguments Against Physicalism” (2010)
“What Is A Brain State?” (2006)
Blog: Philosophy Sucks!
by Mandik:
Key Terms in Philosophy of Mind (2010)
“Beware of the Unicorn: Consciousness as Being Represented and Other Things that Don’t Exist” (2009)
with Josh Weisberg: “Type-Q Materialism” (2008)
“The Neurophilosophy of Consciousness” (2006)
Blog: Brain Hammer
See also:
Austen Clark, “Phenomenal consciousness so-called” (2001)
More video:
Richard Brown’s virtual presentations
Pete Mandik on color-consciousness conceptualism
The Online Consciousness Conference
Production note: Attentive viewers will notice a mishap at 1:11:02. We have not edited it, with Richard’s and Pete’s gracious consent, in order to avoid a posting delay.
