{"id":7900,"date":"2014-06-15T15:26:49","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T15:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/06\/15\/patricia-churchland-versus-colin-mcginn-on-mysterianism\/"},"modified":"2014-06-15T15:26:49","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T15:26:49","slug":"patricia-churchland-versus-colin-mcginn-on-mysterianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/06\/15\/patricia-churchland-versus-colin-mcginn-on-mysterianism\/","title":{"rendered":"Patricia Churchland versus Colin McGinn on Mysterianism"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's a win for McGinn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here<\/a>'s Churchland:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The view for which McGinn is known is a jejune prediction, namely that science cannot ever solve the problem of how the brain produces consciousness. On what does he base his prediction? Flimsy stuff. First, he is pretty sure our brain is not up to the job. Why not? Try this: a blind man does not experience color, and he will not do so even when we explain the brain mechanisms of experiencing color. Added to which, McGinn says that he cannot begin to imagine what it is like to be a bat, or how conscious experience might be scientifically explained (his brain not being up to the job, as he insists). This cognitive inadequacy he deems to have universal epistemological significance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside the arrogance, here is one whopping flaw: no causal explanation for a phenomenon, such as color vision, should be expected<\/em> to actually produce that phenomenon. Here is why: the neural pathways involved in visually experiencing color are not the same pathways as those involved in intellectually understanding the mechanisms for experiencing color. Roughly speaking, experiencing color depends on areas in the back of the brain (visual areas) and intellectual understanding of an explanation depends on areas in the front of the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now what does this snark and misdirection have to do with anything McGinn actually maintains?  Nothing that I can see.  Here<\/a>'s McGinn:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Churchland\u2019s account of my arguments for our cognitive limitations with respect to explaining consciousness bears little relation to what I have written in several books, as anyone who has dipped into those books will appreciate. What she refers to as a \u201cwhopping flaw\u201d in my position (and that of many others) is simply a complete misreading of what has been argued: the point is not that having a causal explanation for a phenomenon should produce that phenomenon, so that a blind man will be made to see by having a good theory of vision. The point is rather that a blind man will not understand what color vision is merely by finding out about the brain mechanisms that underlie it, since he needs acquaintance with the color experiences themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Churchland 0 – McGinn 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

The articles below should help you understand some of the issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>Galen Strawson versus Colin McGinn<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Colin McGinn: Good News and Bad News<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>It's Nonsense, but it's True Nonsense!<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>John Searle Interviewed<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It's a win for McGinn. Here's Churchland: The view for which McGinn is known is a jejune prediction, namely that science cannot ever solve the problem of how the brain produces consciousness. On what does he base his prediction? Flimsy stuff. First, he is pretty sure our brain is not up to the job. Why … Continue reading “Patricia Churchland versus Colin McGinn on Mysterianism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mind","category-mysterianism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}