Sisyphus’s Boulder: Consciousness and the limits of the knowable (Advances in Consciousness Research)

Consciousness Lies At The Core Of Being Human. Therefore To Understand Ourselves, We Need A Theory Of Consciousness. In Sisyphus's Boulder, Eric Dietrich And Valerie Hardcastle Argue That We Will Never Get Such A Theory Because Consciousness Has An Essential Property That Prevents It From Ever Being Explained. Consequently, Philosophical Debates Over Materialism And Dualism Are A Waste Of Time. Scientific Explanations Of Consciousness Fare No Better. Scientists Do Study Consciousness, And Such Investigations Will Continue To Grow And Advance. However, None Of Them Will Ever Reveal What Consciousness Is. In Addition, Given The Centrality Of Consciousness In Philosophy, Dietrich And Hardcastle Claim That Philosophy Itself Needs To Change. That The Central Problems Of Philosophy Persist Is Actually A Profound Epistemic Fact About Humans. Philosophy, Then, Is A Limit To What Humans Can Understand.--jacket. Ch. 1. Intuitions At An Impasse : The Explanatory Landscape -- Ch. 2. Against Naturalism : The Logical Boundary Of Conscious Perception -- Ch. 3. The Dismal Prospects For Naturalism -- Ch. 4. How To Avoid Being A Mysterian -- Ch. 5. Science In The Face Of Mystery -- Ch. 6. How Consciousness Creates Philosophy -- App. Problems With Zombies : A Discussion In Chalmers's Argument For Dualism. Eric Dietrich, Valerie Gray Hardcastle. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [127]-130) And Index. Annotation Consciousness lies at the core of being human. Therefore, to understand ourselves, we need a theory of consciousness. In Sisyphus's Boulder, Eric Dietrich and Valerie Hardcastle argue that we will never get such a theory because consciousness has an essential property that prevents it from ever being explained. Consequently, philosophical debates over materialism and dualism are a waste of time. Scientific explanations of consciousness fare no better. Scientists do study consciousness, and such investigations will continue to grow and advance. However, none of them will ever reveal what consciousness is. In addition, given the centrality of consciousness in philosophy, Dietrich and Hardcastle claim that philosophy itself needs to change. That the central problems of philosophy persist is actually a profound epistemic fact about humans. Philosophy, then, is a limit to what humans can understand. (Series A) Introduction......Page 2 1. Intuitions at an Impasse: The Explanatory Landscape......Page 5 PART I: TROUBLES WITH NATURALISM......Page 20 2. Against Naturalism: The Logical Boundary of Conscious Perception......Page 21 3. The Dismal Prospects for Naturalism......Page 37 PART II: ASPECTS OF A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS......Page 51 4. How to Avoid Being a Mysterian......Page 52 5. Science in the Face of Mystery......Page 68 PART III: AN APPLICATION: CONSCIOUSNESS AND PHILOSOPHY......Page 85 6. How Consciousness Creates Philosophy......Page 86 Appendix: Problems with Zombies: A Discussion of Chalmers' Argument for Dualism......Page 98 Notes......Page 111 References......Page 120 Index......Page 124