In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

2 In Defense of the HOT Thesis In this chapter, I begin a defense of the HOT Thesis, namely, that a version of the HOT theory is true and thus a version of reductive representationalism is true. This first involves explaining several flavors of representationalism (sec. 2.1), as well as making a case for a reductionist approach to consciousness (sec. 2.2). In section 2.3, I argue that intentionality is prior to consciousness partly via a critical examination of Searle’s well-known Connection Principle. In section 2.4, I offer an initial defense of HOT theory. Finally, in section 2.5, I explore further the nature of mental content in light of HOT theory. 2.1 Varieties of Representationalism Some current theories of consciousness attempt to reduce it to mental representations of some kind. The notion of a representation is, of course, extremely general and can be applied to photographs, signs, and various natural objects, such as the rings inside a tree. Much of what goes on in the brain, however, might also be understood in a representational way, for example, as mental events representing outer objects partly because they are caused by those objects. Philosophers often call these states intentional states that have representational content, that is, mental states that are “about” or “directed at” something such as a thought about a house or a perception of a tree. The view that we can explain conscious mental states in terms of representational or intentional states is called representationalism (or intentionalism ). Although not automatically reductionist in spirit, most versions of representationalism do indeed attempt such a reduction. Most representationalists , such as higher-order (HO) theorists, think that there is then room for a “second-step” reduction to be filled in later by neuroscience. One motivation for representationalism is that a naturalistic account of intentionality 12 Chapter 2 can arguably be more easily attained, such as via causal theories whereby mental states are understood as representing outer objects by virtue of some reliable causal connection. The idea, then, is that if consciousness can be explained in representational terms and representation can be understood in purely physical terms, then there is the promise of a naturalistic theory of consciousness. A representationalist will typically hold that the qualitative properties of experience, or qualia, can be explained in terms of the experiences ’ representational properties. The claim is that conscious mental states have no mental properties other than their representational properties. Two conscious states with all the same representational properties will not differ phenomenally. For example, when I look at the blue sky, what it is like for me to have a conscious experience of the sky is simply identical with my experience’s representation of the blue sky. I cannot fully survey here the dizzying array of representationalist positions (Chalmers 2004; Lycan 2005). I believe that the most plausible form of representationalism is what has been called strong representationalism. It is basically the view that having representations of a certain kind suffices for having qualia and thus for conscious mental states. It is sometimes contrasted with weak representationalism, which is the view that conscious experience always has representational content of some kind. It is also important at the outset to distinguish the content of a mental state from the state or vehicle that has the content. This is the difference between what is represented, or what the state is about, and what is doing the representing. Two other pairs of distinctions involve how best to characterize, first, the mental contents in question and, second, the kinds of properties represented. (1) Wide representationalism holds that “both phenomenal properties and the representational properties they are equivalent to are taken to depend on a subject’s environment” (Chalmers 2004, 165). This is the view of most representationalists, including Dretske (1995), Tye (1995), and Lycan (1996). It has its roots in the literature on propositional attitudes, such as beliefs and thoughts, which has been taken to show that two physically identical subjects with different environments will have different mental contents (Putnam 1975). For example, a belief about water on Earth will be about H2 O, whereas it will be about XYZ on “Twin Earth.” The main idea is that the content (or meaning) of one’s mental states depends on one’s environment. In contrast, narrow representationalism is the view that phenomenal properties, and the representational properties they are equivalent to, depend on a subject’s internal state, so that molecular duplicates will necessarily share...

Share