Phenomenal consciousness with infallible self-representation
Philosophical Studies February 1, 2011 C. Kidd 9 citations
A self-representational theory of phenomenal consciousness can avoid problems of misrepresentation by making self-representations contingently infallible when they occur within conscious mental states. This approach acknowledges the logical possibility of self-misrepresentation while preventing actual errors. Three other self-representational models—by Kriegel, Van Gulick, and Gennaro—each reveal the need for such infallibility. The account is naturalistically acceptable only if self-representations have neo-Fregean, directly referring indexical content and conscious states have a specific ontological structure, drawing on work by Perry and Kaplan.