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mysterianism
Facts (12)
Sources
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org Dec 20, 2023 3 facts
claimMysterianism is the philosophical view that consciousness cannot be explained because humans have limited cognitive capacities that prevent them from grasping the explanation, rather than there being no explanation in principle.
claimMysterianism is motivated by the perceived failure of positive theories of consciousness and by humility regarding the limits of human intellect in grasping the fundamental workings of nature.
referenceMysterianism is associated with the work of Colin McGinn (1989), Daniel Stoljar (2006), and Noam Chomsky (2009).
David Chalmers Thinks the Hard Problem Is Really Hard scientificamerican.com Apr 10, 2017 3 facts
perspectiveDavid Chalmers rejects mysterianism, the philosophical position that the problem of consciousness is unsolvable by human intellect.
claimColin McGinn is the philosopher most closely associated with the position of mysterianism, while Owen Flanagan coined the term.
claimDavid Chalmers is a 'philosophical hybrid' who combines optimism about solving consciousness with mysterianism, the position that consciousness is intractable.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Jul 18, 2017 2 facts
perspectiveTom McClelland is a mysterian regarding the basic features of matter that generate qualitative properties in experience, but he maintains hope for a reductive account of how those qualities become experienced.
claimMysterianism is the view that humans are constitutionally incapable of forming a positive conception of the nature of protophenomenal properties.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 Edition) plato.stanford.edu May 23, 2001 1 fact
claimTom McClelland defended a form of panprotopsychism in 2013 that combines mysterianism with the reductive account of subjectivity favored by panqualityists.
Consciousness and Cognitive Sciences journal-psychoanalysis.eu 1 fact
claimA specific trend in cognitive science research gives an explicit and central role to first-person accounts and the irreducible nature of experience, while refusing both dualistic concessions and the pessimistic surrender of mysterianism.
Hard Problem of Consciousness | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 1 fact
claimMysterianism is a philosophical position regarding the hard problem of consciousness which asserts that the problem cannot be solved by current scientific methods and potentially cannot be solved by human beings at all.
Moving Forward on the Problem of Consciousness - David Chalmers consc.net 1 fact
perspectiveDavid Chalmers argues that Price's analogy between the brain-consciousness relation and ordinary causal relations helps demonstrate that believing in an explanatory gap does not necessitate adopting mysterianism.