Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Cognitive Phenomenology

Phenomenal states are mental states in which there is something that it is like for their subjects to be in; they are states with a phenomenology. What it is like to be in a mental state is that state´s phenomenal character. There is general agreement among philosophers of mind that the category of mental states includes at least some sensory states. For example, there is something that it is like to taste chocolate, to smell coffee, to feel the wind in one´s hair, to see the blue sky and to feel a pain in one´s toe. Is there also something that it is like to consciously think, to consciously judge and to consciously believe something? Are such cognitive states, when conscious, phenomenal states? Is there a clear distinction between sensory states and cognitive states? Or, can our knowledge, thoughts and beliefs influence our sensory experiences? Is there a cognitive phenomenology?

 

It is challenging to give a clear characterization of the cognitive phenomenology debate, since different contributors conceive of the debate in different ways. Central for the debate is the question of whether conscious thoughts possess a non-sensory phenomenology. Intuitively, there is something that it is like to consciously think, consciously judge and consciously believe something. However, the debate about cognitive phenomenology is not, strictly speaking, about whether there is something that it is like to consciously think. Rather, the debate concerns the nature of cognitive phenomenology. Is the phenomenology of cognitive states reducible to purely sensory phenomenology? Or, is there an irreducible cognitive phenomenology? A sceptic about cognitive phenomenology claims that conscious cognitive states are non-phenomenal. But, conscious cognitive states may seem to be phenomenal because they are accompanied by sensory states. For instance, when one thinks that ´Paris is a beautiful city`, one´s thought may be expressed in inner-speech and an image of Paris may accompany it. These accompanying sensory states are phenomenal states, and not the thought itself. Contrary to this, the proponent of cognitive phenomenology claims that a conscious cognitive state can have a phenomenology that is irreducible to purely sensory phenomenology.

 

Other debates have also been placed under the ´cognitive phenomenology’ label. There is an ongoing debate within the philosophy of perception about how cognition influences our sensory experiences. Philosophers tend to agree that, for example, an expert ornithologist´s perceptual experience of a type of bird can differ from that of a novice, even if the viewing conditions for both expert and novice are the same. The expert´s knowledge of birds can influence her experience. However, what philosophers disagree about is how the expert´s knowledge influences her experience, and how her knowledge contributes to what her experience is like.

 

 

Background

a. Terminological Clarifications

When this article talks about a state being conscious, being conscious should be understood as being phenomenally conscious. A phenomenal state is a mental state that is phenomenally conscious in that there is something that it is like for the subject of that state to be in that state. Phenomenal states are states with phenomenology. What it is like to be in a phenomenal state is that state´s phenomenal character. An example of a phenomenal state is a visual experience of the blueness of the sea. Another example is an auditory experience of the sound of waves. There is something that it is like to have these experiences. There is also something that it is like to simultaneously visually experiencing the blueness of the sea and auditorily experiencing the sound of the waves (Bayne & Chalmers 2003). Our everyday conscious experiences are often complex in that they involve simultaneously thinking, feeling and experiencing within different sensory modalities. Such a complex experience is referred to as an overall phenomenal state.

 

Examples of sensory mental states are perceptual states, proprioception, bodily feelings and pains. Examples of cognitive states are thoughts, judgments and beliefs. According to some views, emotions and categorical perceptual experiences (such as experiencing something as being a type of bird) should also be categorized as cognitive states, or as partly cognitive and partly sensory states (see Chudnoff 2015a, Montague 2017).

 

b. Two Kinds of Mental States

Traditionally, it was common to distinguish between two kinds of mental states, namely sensory states and propositional attitudes. Paradigmatic examples of propositional attitudes are cognitive states such as beliefs, desires, thoughts and judgements. Propositional attitudes are intentional states since they are about or represent objects, properties or states of affair. They are states with propositional contents that can be linguistically expressed by using a ´that-clause`. The content of my belief ´that it will rain tomorrow` is ´that it will rain tomorrow`. When I believe ´that it will rain tomorrow` I am having a certain attitude towards that content, namely the attitude of belief. I could have had a different attitude towards the same content, I could for instance desire ´that it will rain tomorrow`.

 

According to the traditional view, sensory mental states, unlike cognitive states, have qualia. On this view, qualia are seen as phenomenal properties that can be separated from intentional or representational properties. For example, my visual experience of a red rose in front of me is intentional in that it is about or represents ´that there is a red rose in front of me`, but it is also something that it is like for me to experience the red rose. The redness that I experience is a property of my experience, a quale. While conscious sensory states are regarded as phenomenal states with qualia, conscious cognitive states are said to lack qualia. They are seen as non-phenomenal states.

 

Lately, this traditional view has been challenged. Firstly, proponents of intentionalism argue that when I experience a red rose I experience the redness as a property of the rose itself, and not as a property of my experience of the rose. My experience of the red rose has a phenomenal character, but this phenomenal character is embedded in the intentional content of my experience. Secondly, proponents of cognitive phenomenology challenge the assumption that cognitive states are non-phenomenal states when conscious.

 

c. Phenomenal Intentionality

In their seminal paper from 2002 ‘The Intentionality of Phenomenology and the Phenomenology of Intentionality’, Horgan and Tienson argue against the traditional view and argue in favour of intentionalism and cognitive phenomenology. They also argue for a view about the relation between the intentional and the phenomenal that has recently gained popularity, Phenomenal intentionalism.

 

According to intentionalism, all mental states are intentional, including phenomenal states. A mental state is commonly regarded as intentional if it is about or directed towards some objects or states of affairs, and if it has a content.

 

Phenomenal intentionality is a kind of intentionality that is said to be grounded in phenomenal consciousness (Kriegel 2011, Mendelovici 2018). According to proponents of Phenomenal intentionalism, there is a Phenomenal intentionality and all other forms of intentionality are derived from Phenomenal intentionality. While other proponents of intentionalism hold that intentionality is primary to phenomenology (see for example, Tye 1995 and Dretske 1995), proponents of Phenomenal intentionalism claim that phenomenology or Phenomenal intentionality is primary to all other forms of intentionality (Horgan & Tienson 2002, Kriegel 2011, Mendelovici 2018).

 

While most proponents of Phenomenal intentionalism also claim that there is a cognitive phenomenology, the two views should not be intermingled. Phenomenal intentionalism is a view about what it is that grounds the relation between phenomenal consciousness and intentionality, while cognitive phenomenology is a view about the scope of phenomenal consciousness. A proponent of cognitive phenomenology needs not accept Phenomenal intentionalism, and it is not necessary for a proponent of Phenomenal intentionalism to hold that there is a cognitive phenomenology. However, since proponents of Phenomenal intentionalism claim that all intentionality is derived from Phenomenal intentionality, it is easier to explain the intentionality of cognitive states if one holds that conscious cognitive states are phenomenal states. If one denies that there is a cognitive phenomenology and accepts Phenomenal intentionalism, one needs to tell a story about how the intentionality of cognitive states is derived from the Phenomenal intentionality of sensory states. While if one holds that there is a cognitive phenomenology one can simply claim that the intentionality of non-conscious cognitive states (such as dispositional beliefs) is derived from the Phenomenal intentionality of conscious cognitive states.

 

2. The Nature of Cognitive Phenomenology

The debate about whether or not there is a cognitive phenomenology can seem bewildering since there are different claims about what cognitive phenomenology is, and these claims may vary in both strength and generality.

 

a. Irreducible Cognitive Phenomenology

According to Elijah Chudnoff (2015a), a proponent of cognitive phenomenology should minimally accept the irreducibility thesis.

 

Irreducibility: ‘Some cognitive states put one in phenomenal states for which no wholly sensory states suffices’ (Chudnoff 2015a: 15).

 

It follows from Irreducibility that some cognitive states are such that because one is in them one is in a phenomenal state for which no wholly sensory states suffice. That is, there is a phenomenal character that is over and above the phenomenal character that accrues for sensory states. Putting one in a phenomenal state should be understood as a non-causal explanatory relation that can alternatively be picked out by ´in virtue of` or ´constitutively dependent on` (see Chudnoff 2015b).

 

In order to get a better grip on the Irreducibility thesis we can contrast it with an alternative view on the relation between cognitive states and phenomenal states. It is uncontroversial to claim that cognitive states can make an impact on our sensory states. For instance, judging that the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees can lead one to visualize the triangle or to express sentences such as ´the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees` in inner speech. In this case, one is in a phenomenal state since one is in a certain cognitive state, but the phenomenal state one is in is not different from the phenomenal state various wholly sensory states can put one in (Chudnoff 2015a). What Irreducibility claims is that some cognitive states can put one in phenomenal states that are different from those phenomenal states that wholly sensory states can put one in. Chudnoff uses an example from mathematics to illustrate how Irreducibility differs from the view that cognitive states merely cause one to be in a certain phenomenal state. At first you read that ´If a < 1, then 2 – 2a > 0`, and you wonder whether this is true (Chudnoff 2015a: 15). Then you realise how a´s being less than 1 makes 2a smaller than 2 and so 2 – 2a greater than 0. When you realise the truth of this mathematical proposition you might say to yourself in inner speech ´If a < 1, then 2 – 2a > 0` and you might visualize the variable ´a` and the numeral ´1`. You might also feel satisfied because you got it right. These states that you are put in are all sensory phenomenal states. However, if you believe Irreducibility and if you think that this case of realising the truth of this mathematical proposition involves cognitive phenomenology, then you also believe that these sensory states taken together cannot account for the overall phenomenal state you are in. You think that there is some phenomenal state that is left over which only the cognitive states of ´realising` or ´intuiting` can put you in.

 

Following Chudoff, Irreducibility is the thesis that a proponent of cognitive phenomenology must minimally accept. There are other theses figuring within the cognitive phenomenology debate that go beyond Irreducibility and make stronger and more specific claims about the nature of cognitive phenomenology.

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