Stoica, Ovidiu Cristinel (2020) The negative way to sentience. [Preprint]

Preview

Text Sentience-negative-way.pdf - Draft Version Download (621kB) | Preview

Abstract

While the materialist paradigm is credited for the incredible success of science in describing the world, to some scientists and philosophers there seems to be something about subjective experience that is left out, in an apparently irreconcilable way. I show that indeed a scientific description of reality faces a serious limitation, which explains this position. On the other hand, to remain in the realm of science, I explore the problem of sentient experience in an indirect way, through its possible physical correlates. This can only be done in a negative way, which consists in the falsification of various hypotheses and the derivation of no-go results. The general approach I use here is based on simple mathematical proofs about dynamical systems, which I then particularize to several types of physical theories and interpretations of quantum mechanics. Despite choosing this scientifically-prudent approach, it turns out that various possibilities to consider sentience as fundamental make empirical predictions, ranging from some that can only be verified on a subjective basis to some about the physical correlates of sentience, which are independently falsifiable by objective means.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Stoica, Ovidiu Cristinel holotronix@gmail.com 0000-0002-2765-1562
Keywords:	Sentience, hard problem of consciousness, scientific method, dynamical systems, mathematical structures, materialism, idealism, monism, sentientism, eternalism, presentism, artificial intelligence, foundations of quantum mechanics, free will, metaphysics, ontology
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica
Date Deposited:	11 Apr 2020 02:15
Last Modified:	11 Apr 2020 02:15
Item ID:	17036
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	23 March 2020
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/17036

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item