Consciousness and the Philosophy of Signs: How Peircean Semiotics Combines Phenomenal Qualia and Practical Effects (Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind Book 19)

Annotation It is often thought that consciousness has a qualitative dimension that cannot be tracked by science. Recently, however, some philosophers have argued that this worry stems not from an elusive feature of the mind, but from the special nature of the concepts used to describe conscious states. Marc Champagne draws on the neglected branch of philosophy of signs or semiotics to develop a new take on this strategy. The term "semiotics" was introduced by John Locke in the modern period - its etymology is ancient Greek, and its theoretical underpinnings are medieval. Charles Sanders Peirce made major advances in semiotics, so he can act as a pipeline for these forgotten ideas. Most philosophers know Peirce as the founder of American pragmatism, but few know that he also coined the term "qualia," which is meant to capture the intrinsic feel of an experience. Since pragmatic verification and qualia are now seen as conflicting commitments, Champagne endeavors to understand how Peirce could (or thought he could) have it both ways. The key, he suggests, is to understand how humans can insert distinctions between features that are always bound. Recent attempts to take qualities seriously have resulted in versions of panpsychism, but Champagne outlines a more plausible way to achieve this. So, while semiotics has until now been the least known branch of philosophy ending in -ics, his book shows how a better understanding of that branch can move one of the liveliest debates in philosophy forward Dedication 6 Acknowledgments 7 Contents 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 References 17 Chapter 2: Calling on the Helpful Resources of Semiotic Inquiry 20 2.1 Separating Qualities from Functions 20 2.2 Philosophy of Signs’ Long Past 23 2.3 Peirce’s Major Contribution 28 2.4 Tone-Deaf no More 31 References 36 Chapter 3: Using Prescission and the Type/Token/Tone Distinction 40 3.1 Block’s Real Separation of Phenomenon and Access 40 3.2 Prescission in Theory 45 3.3 Prescission in Practice 49 3.4 The Stream and Still Pools of Consciousness 55 References 57 Chapter 4: Enlarging the Menu of Referential Options to Include Icons 60 4.1 The Indexical Phenomenal Concept Strategy 60 4.2 Getting in Touch without Touching 66 4.3 How Low can we Go? 71 4.4 Focusing on What Matters 78 References 82 Chapter 5: Seeing Things as They Are 87 5.1 Peirce’s Merger Versus Poinsot’s Buffer 87 5.2 Un-Lockeing a Coloured World 95 5.3 The Argument from Subjective Variation 100 5.4 Colours and the Soggy Grey Brain 102 References 105 Chapter 6: Informational Flow Implies Informational Pause 108 6.1 Informational Flow 108 6.2 Informational Pause 112 6.3 Can a Pragmatist Accept this? 115 6.4 Classifying the Peircean Stance 117 References 120 Chapter 7: Conclusion 123 References 128 Index 130 It is often thought that consciousness has a qualitative dimension that cannot be tracked by science. Recently, however, some philosophers have argued that this worry stems not from an elusive feature of the mind, but from the special nature of the concepts used to describe conscious states. Champagne draws on the neglected branch of philosophy of signs or semiotics to develop a new take on this strategy. The term 'semiotics' was introduced by John Locke in the modern period ? its etymology is ancient Greek, and its theoretical underpinnings are medieval. Charles Sanders Peirce made major advances in semiotics. Most philosophers know him as the founder of American pragmatism, but he also coined the term 'qualia', which is meant to capture the intrinsic feel of an experience. Since pragmatic verification and qualia are now seen as conflicting commitments, Champagne endeavors to understand how Peirce could have it both ways. The key, he suggests, is to understand how humans can insert distinctions between features that are always bound. Recent attempts to take qualities seriously have resulted in versions of panpsychism, but Champagne outlines a more plausible way to achieve this