Principal Investigator: Robert E. Horn, Visiting Scholar, Project on People, Computers, and Design, The Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. email: hornbob@earthlink.net
Project Members: Paul Livingston, Philosophy Department,
University of California, Irvine (Principal Author--Philosophy)
Russell McBride, Philosophy Department, University of California,
Berkeley
Project Sponsors: The Fetzer Institute through the University of Arizona Consciousness Research Grants
Project Host Institution: MacroVU®, Inc.
Difficulty
in Surveying Field of Consciousness Studies
In recent decades consciousness research has been a hot topic
in neurobiology, cognitive sciences, psychology, and philosophy.
As Ned Block, Owen Flanagan, and Guven Guzeldere say in their
recent anthology: "These are exciting times for thinking
about consciousness." It is one of the truly important conversations
encompassing philosophy, religion, and science.
Like many of the great debates, the conversation about consciousness is sometimes overwhelming. Students, scholars, and interested laypeople often find themselves frustrated as they attempt to catch up and keep up with the discussion because of its specialized, interdisciplinary nature. Most available summaries take positions that filter out important rebuttals and counterrebuttals in the debate. Moreover:
Argumentation
Mapping
Robert Horn, a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and his
team have just finished developing a new methodology that helps
trace such major debates. Argumentation maps are poster-sized,
visual diagrams that logically and visually link various components
of arguments to each other. Argumentation maps function much like
geographic maps; they orient users to the surrounding territory,
provide detail about specific locations, and aid decision making
about both destination and navigational route. The first of these
produced by Horn's team has been published as a set of seven maps
in the Mapping Great Debates series under the general title "Can
Computers Think?" The debates covered by the series include
over 800 claims, rebuttals, and counter-rebuttals about such topics
as the Turing test, Newell and Simon's physical symbol system
hypothesis, connectionist architecture, consciousness and machines,
and the relation of the Godel undecidability proofs to whether
computers can or will ever be able to think.
The Project:
Mapping the Consciousness Debate
A half-century of the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of
the consciousness debates suggests that such tools to facilitate
communication across disciplinary boundaries are more critical
than ever. This grant will enable Horn and his team to begin a
project to prepare a series of in-depth argumentation maps of
the significant debates in the general area of consciousness research.
The goal, in short, is to map the difficult and central debates
of consciousness studies and the full range of interdisciplinary
issues addressed in the debates, thereby creating a comprehensive
resource that students, educators, and scholars may use to grasp
the intellectual history and the central, frontier issues at hand.
An Invitation
to Participate
It is clear from several angles that this debate is far from settled.
We expect to revise and expand these maps from time to time. The
opportunities for you to participate, therefore, are several,
and your involvement is not only appreciated--it is critical.
Use the suggestion button at the bottom of each of the maps in
this site.