SiglNY

I wish I could read the Dennett article online. If Chalmers has a philosophical nemesis it has to be Dennett. Though he probably sees it otherwise, I contend that Dennett's hard materialism is loosing ground daily in the academic and philosophical mainstream even as Chalmers' non-reductive functionalism gains in appreciation. (Look at Giulio Tononi's celebrated IIT theory of consciousness with its attendant panpsychism for just one example. And that's in the hard sciences, not philosophy.)

I'm ascertaining from the comments here that Dennett is no fan of t... (read more)

Mitchell -

I agree totally. As someone who has read Chalmers entire book, it's frustrating to read so many people misinterpreting his views. Chalmers is in no way committed to a strict epiphenomal dualism; with the Zombie argument Chalmers is merely demonstrating the intellectual bankruptcy of traditional reductionist dualism. He hesitantly endorses epiphenomenalism only because he is granting the materalist as many possible premises as he can to make his point. The materialist would seemingly want to hold to these facts:

1)The physical world is causall... (read more)