New Thoughts on Consciousness

Abstract

I will attempt to introduce some new ideas to the equation in the hopes of sparking new life and ideas in the debate. The views of Ned Block, from his paper Concepts of Consciousness, will be examined and taken as a rough example (given that it’s all I’m looking at) of current Philosophy of the Mind. It has the benefit of looking at consciousness in a variety of ways which will be analysed. Some phenomenological ideas from the late Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception will be used as a new approach to consciousness, particularly the notion of generality and his thoughts on sensations. I will also argue that Block’s view of consciousness assumes too much under that notion. We will begin with a treatment of his concepts of consciousness.