Philosophy Colloquium - Ian Phillips / On the threshold of consciousness
Philosophy Colloquium - Ian Phillips / On the threshold of consciousness
Friday March 6, Ian Phillips joins us from Johns Hopkins to share his work in the philosophy and science of consciousness and perception at our colloquium series. The talk, "On the threshold of consciousness," is abstracted below.
In the late nineteenth century, pioneering experiments by Peirce and Jastrow overthrew the notion of a perceptual threshold. But despite their best intentions, its fall spawned a new myth: a “threshold of consciousness.” This myth fundamentally distorts our understanding of consciousness. It motivates the widespread belief amongst philosophers and scientists that our awareness is sparse and encourages the idea that powerful unconscious processes drive much of our behavior. By reassessing a series of empirical cases—from inattentional blindness, through blindsight to aphantasia—as well as background theoretical motivations, I expose and challenge these distortions. Freed from the grip of the threshold, I develop a view on which conscious experience is both rich and directly available for the control and guidance of intentional action. Consciousness is what allows us to act in the world, and through our agency we disclose our minds.