Hard Problem of Consciousness
Section A: Choose TWO of the following questions. Please refer to the readings and other resources posted on my courses and to class discussions in your answers.There is no need to use APA when referencing these short answers, but you do need to use APA in Section B. Each answer should be 300-400 words long.
1. What is the ‘hard’ problem of consciousness? Discuss with reference to Susan Greenfield (lecture) and David Chalmers’ (reading) discussions of this problem. Both sources are posted on my courses.
2. Write a paragraph discussing and summarising your understanding of qualia. Please base your discussion on the sources posted on my courses and illustrate it by means of a quale that is especially meaningful to you.
3. Can we ever really know what it is like to be a bat? Why/Why not? Please locate your answer in the context of Thomas Nagel’s thought-experiment and the discussions we had in class on this issue.
4. In your opinion, does Mary the colour scientist experience something genuinely new when she sees colour for the first time, or not? Give reasons for your answer, and explain what implications your choice has for our understanding of the nature of qualia.
Section B: Choose ONE of the following questions. Please refer to the readings and other resources posted on mycourses and to class discussions in your answers. Use APA when referencing. Your answer should be 700-800 words long.1.Choose ONE of the following case-studies, and write a paragraph reflecting on what light it sheds on the mystery of consciousness and the construction of the self: Phineas Gage; the patient who went AWOL; the Dog beneath the Skin; Clive Wearing.
2. In your opinion, could interactive digital avatars created from the digital traces left by the dead on social media and other emerging technologies constitute a credible and emotionally satisfying alternative to the consciousness of the deceased person? Please refer to the film ‘Be Right Back’ in your answer, and locate your thoughts in the context of the academic and non-academic sources on this issue that we explored in class.