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    The threat of epiphenomenal irrelevance cannot be simply ... — Carmelics
    Home/Consciousness & Mind
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The threat of epiphenomenal irrelevance cannot be simply dismissed as an obvious non-option

    Consciousness & Mind
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.At least some forms of consciousness have been seriously alleged in recent literature to lack causal status
      ?

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    • 2.Worries about epiphenomenal irrelevance have been raised with regard to qualia and qualitative consciousness by credible philosophers
      ?

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    • 3.Challenges have also been leveled against the causal status of meta-mental consciousness
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Causal exclusion arguments against mental causation, as Kim's work shows, apply equally to all higher-level properties, not consciousness specifically.
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    • 2.If epiphenomenalism threatens consciousness, it threatens all special sciences, making it a reductio of physicalism rather than a distinctive problem for consciousness.
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    • 3.A threat that proves too much by undermining all intentional explanation cannot serve as a targeted objection to the causal relevance of consciousness.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Evolutionary arguments establish that phenomenal consciousness was selected for, providing strong empirical grounds that it is causally efficacious.
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    • 2.Dennett and Dretske both argue that any property systematically correlated with adaptive behavior in evolved organisms must be granted causal status.
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    • 3.The burden of proof falls on those denying causal efficacy to explain how epiphenomenal traits could survive natural selection across generations.
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    Consciousness & Mind

    Related

    A threat that proves too much by undermining all intentional explanation cannot ...At least some forms of consciousness have been seriously alleged in recent liter...Causal exclusion arguments against mental causation, as Kim's work shows, apply ...Challenges have also been leveled against the causal status of meta-mental consc...
    +5 moreShow less
    Dennett and Dretske both argue that any property systematically correlated with ...Evolutionary arguments establish that phenomenal consciousness was selected for,...If epiphenomenalism threatens consciousness, it threatens all special sciences, ...The burden of proof falls on those denying causal efficacy to explain how epiphe...Worries about epiphenomenal irrelevance have been raised with regard to qualia a...

    Similar

    Worries about epiphenomenal irrelevance have been raised with regard t...76%If epiphenomenalism is true, it is explanatorily redundant to postulat...72%If epiphenomenalism is true, one's own mental states do not explain on...71%Therefore, conceptual possibility does not entail metaphysical possibi...70%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: consciousness
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    Perhaps the most basic issue posed by any version of the Why question is whether or not consciousness of the relevant sort has any causal impact at all. If it has no effects and makes no causal difference whatsoever, then it would seem unable to play any significant role in the systems or organisms in which it is present, thus undercutting at the outset most inquiries about its possible value. Nor can the threat of epiphenomenal irrelevance be simply dismissed as an obvious non-option, since at
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit