Understanding Consciousness by Max Velmans
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Overview: This is a fine book. In what has become a crowded field, it stands out as direct, deep, and daring. It should place Max Velmans amongst the stars in the field like Chalmers, Dennett, Searle, and Churchland who are most commonly referenced in consciousness studies books and articles. It is direct in that the de rigueur history and review of the body-mind problem is illuminating and concise. It is deep in that Velmans deconstructs the usual idea of an objective world as distinct from our experienced world. It is daring in that in his last chapter he comes out on the side of consciousness co-evolving with the universe rather than arising at some point within it (though he insists that such speculation is beyond the more empirical intent of his earlier chapters). His views on a ‘physicalism’ with mental qualities predate the now popular views of Galen Strawson, who says much the same thing without giving Velmans credit.
Anti-reductionism. Velmans, like others, insists that the phenomenology of consciousness is just as important as any theories about consciousness. First person experience is vital to any understanding of consciousness. After all, the phenomenal world cannot exist without an observer. The brain itself is part of the experienced world and this is one the reasons he makes it clear that any sort of reductionism, including functionalism, just won’t do as a prospective account of consciousness. He calls for an ontological monism, the universe, with a dual epistemology, the first- and third-person perspectives within it. Several times he denies that neural processes can be identical to consciousness even if they cause or correlate with them. His mantra is “correlation and causation do not establish ontological identity.” As perceived, the world cannot help but be subjective. Even the world as revealed through scientific instruments is interpreted and theorized over by conscious minds. In this way, separating subjective and objective realities creates a false dichotomy. The world as experienced is intersubjectively verified and it is this we accept as reality. This world is not the thing-in-itself, as Kant forever made clear. It is not knowable in itself. That world seems to consist of energy exchanges and every perceptive-cognitive system creates a unique reality from it.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
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