Knowledge Tree
subjective first-person data
Also known as: subjective first-person data, first-person data
Facts (11)
Sources
The Problem of Hard and Easy Problems cambridge.org Mar 31, 2023 10 facts
claimThe author argues that the classification of consciousness problems into 'hard' (subjective) and 'easy' (objective) is noncategorical because some first-person data convey information about objective functioning, and some third-person data convey information about subjective experience.
claimThe conclusion that explaining objective functions does not explain subjective experience is potentially unjustified because it relies on the premise that first-person data is not data about objective functioning, which may not be true.
claimIf some third-person data are both about consciousness and mechanistically explainable objective functions, then at least some aspects of consciousness measured by third-person data can be explained mechanistically, regardless of whether first-person data are amenable to mechanistic explanation.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers posits that the 'hard problem of consciousness' is defined by the unexplained character of first-person data regarding subjective experience, which he argues transcends objective functioning.
claimFirst-person data are characterized as informative of subjective experience and uninformative of mechanistically explainable functional relationships, while third-person data are characterized as conveying information about mechanistically explainable functional relationships.
claimThe premise that first-person data is not data about objective functioning is an empirical, contingent fact rather than a necessary truth, provided that the amenability of first-person experience to intersubjective agreement cannot be established a priori.
claimThe model of explaining systems by specifying mechanisms breaks down for first-person data because subjective experience is not data about objective functioning.
claimThe demarcation between 'hard' and 'easy' problems relies on the distinction between subjective first-person data and objective third-person data.
claimMechanistically explainable objective functioning can only explain objective third-person data, whereas consciousness is characterized by subjective first-person data.
claimThe classification of the problem of consciousness as 'easy' or 'hard' depends on the extent to which first-person and third-person data are shown to convey information about one another.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Springer Nature Link link.springer.com 1 fact
claimDavid Chalmers defines the hard problem of consciousness as the problem of explaining first-person data.