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67Review of Derk Pereboom Consciousness and the Prospects of Physicalism (review)Journal of Consciousness Studies 20 (9-10): 193-200. 2013.
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175The Neo-Russellian Ignorance Hypothesis: A Hybrid Account of Phenomenal ConsciousnessJournal of Consciousness Studies 20 (3-4). 2013.We have reason to believe that phenomenal properties are nothing over and above certain physical properties. However, doubt is cast on this by the apparent epistemic gap that arises for attempts to account for phenomenal properties in physical terms. I argue that the epistemic gap should be divided into two more fundamental conceptual gaps. The first of these pertains to the distinctive subjectivity of phenomenal states, and the second pertains to the intrinsicality of phenomenal qualities. Stol…Read more
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6137The Philosophy of Film and Film as PhilosophyCinema 2 11-35. 2011.This paper explores the idea that popular narrative film can somehow contribute to our philosophical understanding. I identify a number of problems with this 'film as philosophy' thesis and argue that the capacity of film to contribute to philosophy is not as great as many authors think. Specifically, I argue that film can only offer genuinely distinctive insights into philosophical questions *about film* and explore Hitchcock's Rear Window as an example of this.
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162Can self-representationalism explain away the apparent irreducibility of consciousness?Synthese 193 (6): 1-22. 2016.Kriegel’s self-representationalist theory of phenomenal consciousness pursues two projects. The first is to offer a positive account of how conscious experience arises from physical brain processes. The second is to explain why consciousness misleadingly appears to be irreducible to the physical i.e. to ‘demystify’ consciousness. This paper seeks to determine whether SR succeeds on the second project. Kriegel trades on a distinction between the subjective character and qualitative character of c…Read more
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97Review of Mark Rowlands, Can Animals be Moral? (review)Metapsychology Online 17 (29). 2013.In this vivid and engaging book Mark Rowlands asks whether animals are capable of being moral. His answer is a mitigated 'yes', supported by an ambitious and convincing philosophical argument. A great deal of attention has been given to the question of whether animals deserve our moral consideration. Much less has been given to the question of whether animals themselves are moral beings. The dominant view among both philosophers and scientists has been that they are not. The standard position is…Read more
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259The Problem of Consciousness: Easy, Hard or Tricky?Topoi 36 (1): 17-30. 2017.Phenomenal consciousness presents a distinctive explanatory problem. Some regard this problem as ‘hard’, which has troubling implications for the science and metaphysics of consciousness. Some regard it as ‘easy’, which ignores the special explanatory difficulties that consciousness offers. Others are unable to decide between these two uncomfortable positions. All three camps assume that the problem of consciousness is either easy or hard. I argue against this disjunction and suggest that the pr…Read more
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1256What is it like to be John Malkovich?Postgraduate Journal of Aesthetics 7 (2): 10-25. 2010.To what extent can film - or individual films - act as a vehicle of or forum for philosophy itself?. Many have responded that films can indeed do philosophy to a substantial degree. Furthermore, it has been claimed that this virtue does not belong solely to ‘art’ films, but that popular cinema too can do philosophy. A case in point is Spike Jonze’s 1999 film Being John Malkovich, the Oscar-winning screenplay of which was written by Charlie Kaufman. The outrageous premise of this comic fantasy i…Read more
Cambridge, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
PhilPapers Editorships
Russellian Monism |