Symmetry 2010, 2(3), 1250-1269; doi:10.3390/sym2031250
Article

Will Science and Consciousness Ever Meat? Complexity, Symmetry and Qualia

Roger Vergauwenemail
Center for Logic and Analytical Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kardinaal Mercierplein 2, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Received: 9 March 2010; in revised form: 25 May 2010 / Accepted: 23 June 2010 / Published: 25 June 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Complexity and Symmetry)
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Abstract: Within recent discussions in the Philosophy of Mind, the nature of conscious phenomenal states or qualia (also called ‘raw feels’ or the feel of ‘what it is like to be’) has been an important focus of interest. Proponents of Mind-Body Type-Identity theories have claimed that mental states can be reduced to neurophysiological states of the brain. Others have denied that such a reduction is possible; for them, there remains an explanatory gap. In this paper, functionalist, physicalist, epiphenomenalist, and biological models of the mind are discussed and compared. Donald Davidson’s Anomalous Monism is proposed as a unifying framework for a non-reductive theory of qualia and consciousness. Downward Causation, Emergence through Symmetry-breaking, and Dynamical Systems Theory are used to show how consciousness and qualia emerge from their neural substrate and can also be causally efficacious.
Keywords: anomalous monism; consciousness; downward causation; dynamical systems; qualia; symmetry-breaking

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MDPI and ACS Style

Vergauwen, R. Will Science and Consciousness Ever Meat? Complexity, Symmetry and Qualia. Symmetry 2010, 2, 1250-1269.

AMA Style

Vergauwen R. Will Science and Consciousness Ever Meat? Complexity, Symmetry and Qualia. Symmetry. 2010; 2(3):1250-1269.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vergauwen, Roger. 2010. "Will Science and Consciousness Ever Meat? Complexity, Symmetry and Qualia." Symmetry 2, no. 3: 1250-1269.

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