Consciousness intuitions are illusory

Area of Science:

• Philosophy of Mind
• Cognitive Science
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Philosophical debates on the 'hard problem' of consciousness often rely on intuitions about consciousness.
• These consciousness intuitions are presumed to be closely linked to the nature of consciousness itself.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the assumption that consciousness intuitions accurately reflect consciousness.
• To investigate the stability and reliability of consciousness intuitions across different philosophical scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted to probe participants' intuitions about consciousness.
• Participants were presented with distinct thought experiments, including a duplication scenario and the 'Mary's Room' scenario.
• Intuitions regarding the physical nature of consciousness were analyzed in response to these scenarios.

Main Results:

• Consciousness intuitions were found to be illusory, shifting based on the specific 'problem intuition' presented.
• In a duplication scenario, participants did not consider consciousness physical.
• In the 'Mary's Room' scenario, participants viewed consciousness as physical, expecting color qualia to be detectable via brain scans.

Conclusions:

• The study demonstrates that consciousness intuitions are unstable and influenced by psychological biases, specifically intuitive Dualism and Essentialism.
• These findings suggest that consciousness judgments derived from intuitions are illusory and cannot be trusted as accurate reflections of consciousness.
• The research calls into question the foundational role of intuitions in philosophical discussions of consciousness.