Experience and consciousness

Concepts from the outside in

Journal article (2014)

Authors

S. Rainey St. Mary’s University
Affiliation
External organisation
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Published Date

2014

Language

English

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Affiliation

External organisation

Abstract

The ‘feel’ of driving a Porsche is unlike that of seeing red (O’Regan, J. Noë, A., 2000). Sensorimotor theory and enactivism hold that looking for mechanisms or something ‘inside the head’ is a mistake in accounting for this. Consciousness does not ‘lie behind’ experience and action, but rather that it is in experience and action. Studying the actions organisms undertake in environments can provide insight into their consciousness and experience. Taking such actions as the locus of study, moreover, can provide greater insight than can studies of mechanisms that drive such interactions. Studying organism-environment interaction in fact provides insight into mechanisms.