Nonrepresentational approaches to the unconscious in the. Kenneth williford is currently associate professor of philosophy at the university of texas at arlington, tx. Section 6 addresses the potentially damaging claim that hot theory requires neural activity in the prefrontal cortex pfc in order for one to have conscious states. This is taken by defenders to be an account of consciousness superior to that offered by other representational approaches, such as firstorder representationalism and higherorder theories. Selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness the mit. Conscious perceptual experience as representational self. The authors in this collection pursue a number of questions concerning self consciousness, self and consciousness. A comparison and integration of various views alain morin mount royal college, ab, canada quite a few recent models are rapidly introducing new concepts describing different levels of consciousness. Now let us turn to the distinction between rudimentary and robust fi rstperson perspectives, in terms of which i understand the distinction between consciousness and selfconsciousness. We introduce a model of selfconsciousness derived from phenomenology, philosophy, the cognitive, and neurosciences. Kriegel claims that m thereby indirectly represents itself, and he attempts to motivate this claim by appealing to what.
Theories of consciousness as reflexivity frederic peters research fellow psychology department university of new england armidale, nsw, australia introduction consciousness is best understood in context, as one element of an interactive waking state in which the greater part of cognitive processing takes place in a nonconscious fashion. The self representational theory of consciousness stands as an alternative to the two dominant reductive theories of consciousness, the representational theory of consciousness rtc and the higherorder monitoring hom theory, combining elements of both rtc and hom theory in a novel fashion that may avoid the fundamental deficiencies of each. The best known versions of this theory are illustrated by the following statements. The importance of non representational approaches to the unconscious has been emphasized by dan zahavi in his book self awareness and alterity. Many recent discussions of selfconsciousness and selfknowledge assume that there are only two kinds of accounts available to be taken on the relation between the socalled firstorder conscious states and subjects awareness or knowledge of them.
Conscious perceptual experience as representational self prompting john dilworth western michigan university journal of mind and behavior 28 no. Download pdf approaches to consciousness free online. Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology. Phenomenal consciousness with infallible selfrepresentation. Phenomenological approaches to selfconsciousness stanford. Empirical approaches on topics such as consciousness, selfawareness, or introspective perspective, need a conceptual framework so that the emerging, still unconnected. The imaginary audience, selfconsciousness, and public. Joint philosophy and psychology project on consciousness. A selfrepresentational theory and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. We take as our point of departure the essential ability for selfconsciousness in the full sense of personal selfinspection inspectio sui, and the ability that is based on this for taking up positions that are reflectively directed back on oneself and ones own life, on personal acts of selfknowledge, selfevaluation, and practical acts. Representationalists aim to account for consciousness in representational terms, so if representation can in turn be explained naturalistically we will have a naturalisti c account of consciousness. The selfrepresentational theory of consciousness stands as an alternative to the two dominant reductive theories of consciousness, the representational theory of consciousness rtc and the higherorder monitoring hom theory, combining elements of both rtc and hom theory in a novel fashion. Pdf on feb 5, 2018, tom mcclelland and others published selfrepresentational theories of consciousness find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate.
For discussion of those, see the entry on higherorder theories of consciousness. Selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness the. The authors in this collection pursue a number of questions concerning selfconsciousness, self and consciousness. Non representational approaches to the unconscious in the phenomenology of husserl and merleauponty anastasia kozyreva1,2 published online. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including.
Indirect representation and the selfrepresentational theory. Higherorder representational theories of consciousness. Consciousness, selfconsciousness, and meditation consciousness, selfconsciousness, and meditation fasching, wolfgang 20080419 00. If the prefrontal only view of the visual ncc is right, that would lend support to at least some versions of higherorder representational theories of consciousness. Request pdf on jan 1, 2006, andrew brook and others published selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Types of selfconsciousness can now be developed into paradigms for the empirical investigation of neural correlates. Notably, he claims that when bphenomenology moves beyond an investigation of objectmanifestation and actintentionality, it enters a realm that has traditionally been called the unconscious zahavi. Many recent discussions of self consciousness and self knowledge assume that there are only two kinds of accounts available to be taken on the relation between the socalled firstorder conscious states and subjects awareness or knowledge of them. According to selfrepresentational theories of consciousness, conscious mental states are conscious in virtue of representing themselves.
Selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness by uriah. The aim of this paper is to propose a selfrepresentational theory of phenomenal consciousness from sartre. Representational theory an overview sciencedirect topics. The importance of nonrepresentational approaches to the unconscious has been emphasized by dan zahavi in his book selfawareness and alterity. The first of these is the socalled self representational theory of consciousness, which holds that a mental state is conscious if and only if it represents itself in the right way. The representational theory the representational theory of consciousness also goes by the names of representationalism and intentionalism.
The aim of this paper is to propose a self representational theory of phenomenal consciousness from sartre. A similar view has been defended by owen flanagan, who not only argues that consciousness involves selfconsciousness in the weak sense that there is something it is like for the subject to have the experience, but also speaks of the lowlevel selfconsciousness involved in experiencing my experiences as mine flanagan 1992, 194. There is a wellknown objection to the higher order approach, a version of which is fatal balog 2000b. The leading representational approaches to 1 and 2 are higherorder representation theories, which divide into inner sense or higherorder perception views, acquaintance accounts, and. Download pdf approaches to consciousness free online new. Consciousness, selfconsciousness, and authoritative self. An introduction and assessment provides a fresh and uptodate introduction to a variety of approaches to consciousness, and contributes to the current lively debate about the nature of consciousness and whether a scientific understanding of it is possible. The first of these is the socalled selfrepresentational theory of consciousness, which holds that a mental state is conscious if and only if it represents itself in the right way. In her introduction liu organises the chapters under three headings. Nonrepresentational approaches to the unconscious in the phenomenology of husserl and merleauponty anastasia kozyreva1,2 published online. This is taken by defenders to be an account of consciousness superior to that offered by other representational approaches, such as.
Pdf selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness. It is knowing about ones own tendencies, thoughts, preferences and habits, hobbies, skills, and areas of weakness. In recent years there have been a great number of books in the sciences. Selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness the mit press. This entry will deal mainly with representational theories of consciousness in senses 3 and 4. Higherorder theories of consciousness postulate that consciousness consists in perceptions or thoughts about firstorder mental states. I placed the debate of the self in the domain of consciousness as opposed to the self understood as e. Consciousness, selfconsciousness, and meditation 477 sastri 1999, 31, verse xxan i without a me, so to speak pure subjectivity. In particular, phenomenal consciousness is thought to be higherorder representation of perceptual or quasiperceptual contents, such as visual images. Between pure selfreferentialism and the extrinsic hot theory of consciousness, in selfrepresentational approaches to consciousness, u. Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology and neuroscience volume 30 issue 56 ned block skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Representational theories of consciousness stanford. Indirect representation and the selfrepresentational theory of consciousness ben phillips published online. Although the essays range rather broadly, there is a good deal of unity.
Between pure self referentialism and the extrinsic hot theory of consciousness, in self representational approaches to consciousness, u. His research centers on cognitive science, logic, phenomenology, and philosophy of mind. Section 5 examines several hybrid higherorder and selfrepresentational theories of consciousness which all hold that conscious states are selfdirected in some way. According to carl rogers, founder of clientcentered therapy, selfconcept is an overarching construct that selfesteem is one of the components of it mcleod, 2008. In this pioneering collection of essays, leading theorists examine the selfrepresentational theory of consciousness, which holds that consciousness always involves some form of selfawareness. The higher order approach to consciousness attempts to build a theory of consciousness from the insight that a conscious state is one that the subject is conscious of. According to uriah kriegels selfrepresentational theory of consciousness, mental state m is conscious just in case it is a complex with suitably integrated proper parts, m 1 and m 2, such that m 1 is a higherorder representation of lowerorder representation m 2. Leading theorists examine the selfrepresentational theory of consciousness as an alternative to the two dominant reductive theories of consciousness, the. For it i will clarify and show the closeness of two ideas. The selfrepresentational theory of consciousness stands as an alternative to the two dominant reductive theories of consciousness, the representational theory of consciousness rtc and the higherorder monitoring hom theory, combining elements of both rtc and hom theory in a novel fashion that may avoid the fundamental deficiencies of each.
According to self representational theories of consciousness, conscious mental states are conscious in virtue of representing themselves. Conscious perceptual experience as representational selfprompting john dilworth western michigan university journal of mind and behavior 28 no. A solution to these problems comes from conceiving of the stream of consciousness as the outcome of a process determined by the continuous interaction of two systems. Joint philosophy and psychology project on consciousness and self consciousness project statement context the problem of explaining consciousness and self consciousness is the central problem that any account of the relation between the brain and the mind must address. Levels of selfconsciousness in the following we would like to propose a new theory of selfconsciousness relying on the. Pdf consciousness, selfconsciousness, and meditation. This article is published with open access at abstract in this paper, i argue against the claim recently defended by josh weisberg that a certain version of the self representational approach to phenomenal.