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A paradox regarding representation

Blake Myers October 9, 2018 October 9, 2018 Epistemology / Philosophy of Mind

I recently developed a novel paradox involving a variety of representational states and activities, and I am wondering if readers might have any thoughts about my ideas here. To illustrate the paradox, I first prove that there are certain contingently true propositions that no one can occurrently believe. Then, I …

Self-Consciousness and “Split” Brains: The Capacity for Self-Distinction

Elizabeth Schechter October 5, 2018 October 5, 2018 Elizabeth Schechter: Self-Consciousness and 'Split' Brains

Split-brain subjects talk about themselves using the first-person, singular, pronoun. Of course, by hypothesis, it’s always just one of two split-brain thinkers doing the talking. (In some subjects, R seems to have learned to speak a bit, but never in whole sentences.) Still, this thinker and speaker—L—consistently uses the first-person …

Self-Consciousness and “Split” Brains: The Objection from Unified Behavior

Elizabeth Schechter October 4, 2018 October 4, 2018 Elizabeth Schechter: Self-Consciousness and 'Split' Brains

In yesterday’s post I argued that a split-brain subject is not unitary qua thinker but is actually composed of two thinkers. The book also defends two further, related duality claims: that R and L are distinct subjects of experience and that they are distinct intentional agents. To many people, however, …

Depiction, Pictorial Experience, and Vision Science Conference

Robert Briscoe October 3, 2018 October 10, 2018 Conferences

I’m delighted to announce that registration is now open for the Depiction, Pictorial Experience, and Vision Science conference at the University of Glasgow’s Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience on 15-17 November 2018. Speakers: Solveig Aasen, University of Oslo John Kulvicki, Dartmouth College Clare Mac Cumhaill, University of Geneva Fiona Macpherson, University of Glasgow Bence Nanay, University of …

Self-Consciousness and “Split” Brains: The Duality Claims

Elizabeth Schechter October 2, 2018 October 4, 2018 Elizabeth Schechter: Self-Consciousness and 'Split' Brains

The book argues for three duality claims: one concerning split-brain consciousness, one concerning split-brain intentional agency, and one concerning split-brain psychology generally. Each of the duality claims amounts to a claim about personal identity. If there are two centers or streams of conscious there must be two subjects of conscious …

Self-Consciousness and “Split” Brains: The split-brain phenomenon

Elizabeth Schechter October 1, 2018 June 4, 2020 Elizabeth Schechter: Self-Consciousness and 'Split' Brains

Thanks, John, for this opportunity to talk about my book, and thanks, everyone else, for reading. The book is an empirically informed work of personal identity about the split-brain phenomenon. “Split-brain surgery” is a colloquial term for a surgery that cuts through the corpus callosum (and sometimes additional white matter …

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John Schwenkler September 30, 2018 October 8, 2018 books

We are grateful to Elizabeth Schechter for blogging this week on Self-Consciousness and ‘Split’ Brains (Oxford, 2018). To view all her posts on a single page, please click here.