-
18367Could a large language model be conscious?Boston Review 1. 2023.[This is an edited version of a keynote talk at the conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) on November 28, 2022, with some minor additions and subtractions.] There has recently been widespread discussion of whether large language models might be sentient or conscious. Should we take this idea seriously? I will break down the strongest reasons for and against. Given mainstream assumptions in the science of consciousness, there are significant obstacles to consciousness in c…Read more
-
1Three puzzles about spatial experienceIn Adam Pautz & Daniel Stoljar (eds.), Blockheads! Essays on Ned Block’s Philosophy of Mind and Consciousness, Mit Press. 2019.
-
Consciousness and its place in natureIn Josh Weisberg (ed.), Consciousness (Key Concepts in Philosophy), Polity. 2014.
-
1025Zeno Goes to Copenhagen: A Dilemma for Measurement-Collapse Interpretations of Quantum MechanicsIn M. C. Kafatos, D. Banerji & D. C. Struppa (eds.), Quantum and Consciousness Revisited, Dk Publisher. 2023.A familiar interpretation of quantum mechanics (one of a number of views sometimes labeled the "Copenhagen interpretation'"), takes its empirical apparatus at face value, holding that the quantum wave function evolves by the Schrödinger equation except on certain occasions of measurement, when it collapses into a new state according to the Born rule. This interpretation is widely rejected, primarily because it faces the measurement problem: "measurement" is too imprecise for use in a fundamental…Read more
-
511Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of PhilosophyW. W. Norton. 2022.A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it. Virtual reality is genuine reality; that's the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of "technophilosophy," David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already. Along…Read more
-
2025Interpretivism and InferentialismAnalysis 81 (3): 524-535. 2021.Robbie Williams’ (2020) book The Metaphysics of Representation is the new leading edge of the program of naturalizing intentionality. Williams brings sophistica.
-
5054Inferentialism, Australian styleProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 92. 2021.
-
60
-
1The Two-Dimensional Argument Against MaterialismIn Brian P. McLaughlin, Ansgar Beckermann & Sven Walter (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy of mind, Oxford University Press. 2007.
-
11388Consciousness and the Collapse of the Wave FunctionIn Shan Gao (ed.), Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics, Oxford University Press. 2022.Does consciousness collapse the quantum wave function? This idea was taken seriously by John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner but is now widely dismissed. We develop the idea by combining a mathematical theory of consciousness (integrated information theory) with an account of quantum collapse dynamics (continuous spontaneous localization). Simple versions of the theory are falsified by the quantum Zeno effect, but more complex versions remain compatible with empirical evidence. In principle, versi…Read more
-
The Combination Problem} for PanpsychismIn Godehard Brüntrup & Ludwig Jaskolla (eds.), Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives, Oxford University Press Usa. pp. 179--214. 2016.
-
The Singularity: A Philosophical AnalysisIn U. Awret (ed.), The Singularity: Could Artificial Intelligence Really Out-Think Us ?, Imprint Academic. pp. 12-88. 2016.
-
3390Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings (second edition)Oxford University Press. 2022.
-
474The Virtual as the DigitalDisputatio 11 (55): 453-486. 2019.I reply to seven commentaries on “The Virtual and the Real”. In response to Claus Beisbart, Jesper Juul, Peter Ludlow, and Neil McDonnell and Nathan Wildman, I clarify and develop my view that virtual are digital objects, with special attention to the nature of digital objects and data structures. In response to Alyssa Ney and Eric Schwitzgebel, I clarify and defend my spatial functionalism, with special attention to the connections between space and consciousness. In response to Marc Silcox, I …Read more
-
387How Can We Solve the Meta-Problem of Consciousness?Journal of Consciousness Studies 27 (5-6): 201-226. 2020.
-
688Debunking Arguments for Illusionism about ConsciousnessJournal of Consciousness Studies 27 (5-6): 258-281. 2020.
-
479Is the Hard Problem of Consciousness Universal?Journal of Consciousness Studies 27 (5-6): 227-257. 2020.
-
402Finding Space in a Nonspatial WorldIn Christian Wüthrich, Baptiste Le Bihan & Nick Huggett (eds.), Philosophy Beyond Spacetime, Oxford University Press. 2021.
-
5317Carnap's Second Aufbau and David Lewis's AufbauIn Denis Fisette, Guillaume Fréchette & Friedrich Stadler (eds.), Franz Brentano and Austrian Philosophy: Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook Volume 24, . 2020.
-
4213What is Conceptual Engineering and What Should it Be?Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 63. 2020.Conceptual engineering is the design, implementation, and evaluation of concepts. Conceptual engineering includes or should include de novo conceptual engineering (designing a new concept) as well as conceptual re-engineering (fixing an old concept). It should also include heteronymous (different-word) as well as homonymous (same-word) conceptual engineering. I discuss the importance and the difficulty of these sorts of conceptual engineering in philosophy and elsewhere.
-
Facing up to the Problem of ConsciousnessIn John Heil (ed.), Philosophy of Mind: A Guide and Anthology, Oxford University Press. 2003.
-
76Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2009.This volume concerns the status and ambitions of metaphysics as a discipline.
-
55Availability: The cognitive basis of experienceBehavioral and Brain Sciences 20 (1): 148-149. 1997.Although A-consciousness and P-consciousness are conceptually distinct, a refined notion of A-consciousness makes it plausible that the two are empirically inseparable. I suggest that the notion of direct availability for global control can play a central role here, and draw out some consequences.
-
7Why Isn’t There More Progress in Philosophy?In John A. Keller (ed.), Being, Freedom, and Method: Themes From the Philosophy of Peter van Inwagen, Oxford University Press Uk. 2017.Is there progress in philosophy? A What might be called a glass-half-full view of philosophical progress is that there is some progress in philosophy. The glass-half-empty view is that there is not as much as we would like. Inspired in part by van Inwagen’s discussion of disagreement in philosophy, this paper articulates and argues for a thesis about the relative lack of progress in philosophy: there has been less convergence to the truth on the big questions of philosophy than on the big questi…Read more
-
1264Panpsychism and PanprotopsychismAmherst Lecture in Philosophy 8. 2013.I present an argument for panpsychism: the thesis that everything is conscious, or at least that fundamental physical entities are conscious. The argument takes a Hegelian dialectical form. Panpsychism emerges as a synthesis of the thesis of materalism and the antithesis of dualism. In particular, the key premises of the causal argument for materialism and the conceivability argument for dualism are all accommodated by a certain version of panpsychism. This synthesis has its own antithesis in tu…Read more
-
New York UniversityDepartment of Philosophy
Center For Mind, Brain And ConsciousnessUniversity Professor
New York City, New York, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
PhilPapers Editorships
21 more