Faces of Subjectivity: A workshop on Inner Awareness in the Context of Monistic Theories of Phenomenal Consciousness

Event website

Invitation pdf

Abstract

While the debate about phenomenal consciousness so far has mainly focused on the nature of the qualitative features one encounters in being conscious (e.g. the bitterness of espresso, the feel of mental effort, etc.), our workshop will focus on the nature of this encounter itself, i.e. of the special ‘inner’ awareness (Brentano, Kriegel) one seems to be afforded of one’s own qualitative states, due to which these states are ‘for’ their subject, instantiating what Joseph Levine has called ‘subjectivity’. Since it’s unclear whether and how this subjectivity of conscious states can be accounted for reductively, we view its existence as an important challenge for the main forms of monism, i.e. physicalism and Russellian monism. The aim of our workshop is to bring together leading thinkers working on inner, or ‘subjective’, awareness, with those who defend various forms of monism, and address the ‘subjectivity challenge’ in a systematic manner, examining its viability and significance in the broader context of consciousness studies.

Keynote speakers: 

Robert J. Howell (Rice)
Anna Giustina (Valencia)
Sam Coleman (Birkbeck)

Registration at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The project Monism and the Problem of Subjectivity GA 25-16186S is supported by the Czech Science Foundation.