–Nov. 2021 – Western Canadian Philosophical Association Conference, Victoria, BC
Abstract: In the debate between realists and illusionists, one theorist’s datum is oftentimes another theorist’s fiction. On the one hand, phenomenal realists argue that consciousness, understood as qualia, is the central datum to be explained by any theory of mind worth its salt. On the other hand, illusionists argue that the realists’ concept of consciousness fails to refer to any datum but is instead an antiquated theoretical construct that has long since outlived its usefulness for a science of mind and so should be reconceptualized in terms of third-person neuroscientific evidence. I argue that the oft-neglected transcendental philosophy of Ernst Cassirer provides us with the conceptual resources we need to surpass the current deadlock between realists and illusionists by enabling us to recognize that the entire debate is misframed given that consciousness is neither a datum, nor a posit, but is instead the general condition for the intelligibility of particulars.
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